SDI seeks aluminum plant workforce

Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) reportedly has ramped up its efforts to recruit a workforce to staff its under-construction aluminum recycling and rolling mill in Columbus, Mississippi.

According to Mobile, Alabama-based TV station WCBI, SDI representatives were on-site the prior weekend at the Scooba, Mississippi, Communiversity campus of East Mississippi Community College (EMCC) to distribute and collect job applications.

On its website, EMCC describes the Communiversity campus as hosting its Workforce Services Division, which offers “high-quality, industry-relevant, technical training programs focused on modern manufacturing.”

WCBI reports the job fair scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 15, began more than one hour earlier than scheduled “because people were already waiting outside.” The TV station says job fair organizers estimate nearly 500 people had applied for an SDI position by 10 that morning.

The TV station quotes an SDI executive as referring to online applications as “very impersonal.” Instead, SDI Senior Vice President Glenn Pushis tells WCBI, “We wanted folks to be able to come and see us and see we are real people and we are going to be a part of the community.”

In announcing the project, SDI indicates it will entail a $2.2 billion investment in a production complex that will be able to make some 650,000 tons per year of aluminum.

The WCBI report indicates SDI plans to hire up to 750 people for positions tied to “engineering, maintenance, administration and other roles.”

The TV station says the metals company is planning to hold a second job fair Sunday, Oct. 22, at the EMCC Communiversity campus.