For Bob Powers, joining First Quality meant leaving the life he had built with his wife and five grown kids in Maine, but he was up for the adventure. Ten years ago, he relocated to Anderson, South Carolina, to work at the company’s tissue manufacturing facility. Right away he liked what he saw.
“This is the nicest, cleanest facility I’ve seen in my papermaking career,” said Bob, who has more than 20 years of experience in the industry. “Here, everything is pretty much brand new, and we have top-of-the-line equipment. We take pride in what we do.”
What started as an entry-level position blossomed into a rewarding career as he worked his way up to become an assistant lead on one of the paper machines. He credits First Quality’s approach to training for his ability to advance to his current role.
Quality and efficiency
The Anderson facility manufactures ultra-premium paper towels and bath tissue for retailers’ store brands. Like many of his coworkers, Bob delights in finding paper and tissue products made at his facility on the shelves of big-name stores. He looks for certain date and time stamps to see if it was made on his line.
“Our products are dang good,” he said. “The softness of the bath tissue. The absorbency of the paper towels. It’s all I use at home. You can tell that the company really cares about quality.”
Bob says he also appreciates First Quality’s focus on efficiency.
“If there’s any paper that is leftover after converting, we will actually cut it up and reuse it, recycle it,” he said. “We put it back through the process so there’s very little waste.”
At home in South Carolina
The move to South Carolina turned out great for Bob’s family. His wife now works at First Quality, and two of his kids relocated to the state. He still takes his camper up to Maine in the summer, but much prefers the winter weather down south.
“I’ve got a really good crew here, and First Quality has grown considerably in just a few years,” he said. “This is where I want to work until I retire.”
