The manager of Ainsworth Lumber Co.'s Grand Rapids plant, has resigned effective later this month, a company official has confirmed.
Ainsworth spokesman Bruce Rose said in an e-mail from the company's Vancouver, British Columbia, headquarters, that manager Kevin Blau resigned of his own volition to pursue other interests.
Blau's resignation is one of several upheavals at the plant during the past year.
An early-morning fire on Jan. 4, 2006, heavily damaged the plant's wood storage area. The fire, mechanical problems and maintenance work curtailed production for 60 days from January to September. In September, Ainsworth temporarily closed the Grand Rapids plant, along with its Cook oriented strand board mill, a month after shutting down one of two lines at its Bemidji OSB plant. Ainsworth cited the high cost of production coupled with protracted weak structural panel market conditions. The plants continue to be idle.
The Grand Rapids plant employs about 190 workers.
