Weatherford Gemoco expanding operations

Oilfield-products maker Weatherford Gemoco in Houma announced Friday that it is constructing a 279,000 square-foot, $45 million production facility on La. 311 north of U.S. 90. in Terrebonne Parish which will replace the company’s current plant on Industrial Drive in Houma.

The new complex will be the center of Weatherford’s Houma manufacturing operation, and will add 50 jobs to the already 400 positions the company maintains in Houma. The facility will contain the cementation equipment manufacturing arm now housed in the Industrial Drive plant. The plant is a leading supplier of cementation equipment.

Cementation involves coating a metal with the powder of another metal to increase resistance to rusting.

Weatherford, based in Texas, is one of the world’s largest oilfield-products manufacturers.

The company is building the new complex because the Industrial Drive facility does not provide adequate modern amenities, which has hurt the company’s ability to attract and retain workers, several Gemoco officials said.

The new complex will have air conditioning, a cafeteria, and a day-care facility.

The Industrial Drive plant does not have air conditioning. The plant received heavy flooding from Hurricane Rita. “It’s a difficult work environment,” Weatherford Group Vice President James Martens said.

The new facility also promises to provide a safer work environment for Gemoco employees, Martens said.

“We were looking at future growth, and safety concerns,” he said. “We’ve been having trouble attracting employees. The new facility will help with attracting more workers.”

Katherine Gilbert, business retention director for the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority, agreed that the new complex will help bring in workers.

“The new facility will greatly enhance employee retention,” she said. “With the on-site child care, and the cafeteria, basic needs will be met. Here, you have to wipe the sweat off your brow.”

“Air control quality in this type of operation” is important “in this region,” she said.

Gemoco General Manager Pat Seely called the conditions in the Industrial Drive plant “miserably hot.”

“The labor market is tight,” he said. “We’ve had to draw from Thibodaux and Morgan City.”

David Colley, vice president of manufacturing support for Gemoco, stressed that safety was a big reason for constructing the new complex.

For many years, employees “have had to work around here safely,” he said. “If you can’t work safely, you can’t be in business. We want a first-class showcase facility in Houma. We have to get better. Are we confident that building a building will make it better?”

“It’s great for Weatherford, and for Houma,” he said. “This could not have been done without (the help of) local, state, and federal officials.”

Weatherford had been considering moving its Houma operation to Texas, before deciding to build the new facility in north Terrebonne Parish.

TEDA Chief Executive Officer Mike Ferdinand said the Authority discovered that Weatherford in Houma was considering the transfer to Texas in March 2006.

“They said they were considering alternatives,” Ferdinand said. “We were able to build a sufficient case so they would discuss that consideration.”

Seely said, “You can count on TEDA to help move it forward.”

In 1993, when the company was independent, Gemoco wanted to move its Houma operation to Texas, said George Ribble, Gemoco’s director of cement manufacturing.

However, Weatherford “saw that you were hard-working people,” he told an assembled group of workers who were present Friday at Gemoco for the unveiling of a drawing of the new complex. “They saw your strength, and your persistence, your constant hard work.”

The new facility is “recognition for survivors of the 1980s, of the 1990s acquisition (by Weatherford),” he said.

Gilbert said that the Gemoco facility on Industrial Drive has received inquiries from potential purchasers of the plant.