Guided by a desire to be a positive contributor to the communities in which it operates, Arkema has proven to be a good corporate neighbor in St. Charles Parish.
From its plant site in Hahnville, the Arkema St. Charles Plant produces a latex emulsion employing 50 people. It is a division of the international company also known as Arkema, with an estimated $6.5 million economic impact a year on St. Charles Parish.
These combined efforts to both grow community economically and its quality of life helped name Arkema as the first recipient of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) inaugural award in the category of Manufacturer of the Year with less than 100 employees.
“We were pleasantly surprised,” said Brian Vallieu, newly named Global Manufacturing Excellence director, of the honor. “We felt it reflected the entire plant and organization.”
Vallieu said news of the recognition reached the highest levels of the international company.
“It is something everyone felt good about,” he said. ‘It’s unique for us. It doesn’t happen very often so we wanted to share it.”
In April, the company unveiled the plant’s first completed phase of its significant expansion – 12 tanks completed of a $16 million project to provide and expand storage capacity at the site. Plans are to build 22 of them by 2019.
Arkema has leased its 13-acre Hahnville location from Dow since 2009, as well as has 137 industrial sites in the world. The Hahnville site has 51 employees. The company’s products include adhesives, polymers, acrylics, resins and additives.
The company received the recognition as part of LABI’s Free Enterprise Awards winners for its outstanding investment, action and achievements this year – and there are many.
Under Arkema’s Science Teacher Program, the St. Charles plant hosted six teachers from four schools for multiple days, providing them with science kits for classroom use, making an award to each teacher and each school.
“Teachers were presented with new ways to illustrate scientific concepts in ways that engage students, and following the program they were mentored by plant scientists throughout the year,” said Kevin McNamara, Arkema operations manager.
The plant also contributed to Hahnville High School’s Robotics Team.
This year, the plant contributed to the parish’s project to restore the Lake Pontchartain Fishing Jetty, which is providing residents and visitors a safer, more permanent walking surface, as well as making it handicap accessible, reducing maintenance costs and enhancing its value as an educational opportunity.
Arkema employees also volunteer their time to support HHS by serving as judges at the Science Fair, participating in freshman interviews, serving on the St. Charles Parish Community Advisory Panel, participating in the parish’s Annual Spring Trash Bash cleanup, as well as assisting with the parish’s Household Hazardous Materials Collection Day.The company also donates to several local organizations, including St. Charles Parish Baseball, Hahnville High School Baseball, Hahnville High School Golf, Crescent City Classic 10K, St. Charles Parish Crawfish Boil, United Way Golf Tournament and the United Way of St. Charles’ Jambalaya Cook-Off.
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