Otis Conley stood in front of Avery Dennison’s Marion plant on Thursday in the drizzling rain and reminisced about his 30 years as an employee.

“This part of the facility was not here back then,” Conley said as he pointed to a section of the building. He said his first job was packing notebooks in the plant’s original distribution center.

“The company really looks out for its employees, and the benefits and the working conditions are good,” he said.

Conley is part of what is known at Avery Dennison as the “Fab Four” because he is one of the four remaining employees who started when the plant opened in 1976. Kevin Stiefel, Chuck Harris and Willy Weir also have worked at the plant since it opened.

Conley, a receiving clerk, said his first day of work was Dec. 13, 1976, which just happened to be his birthday.

“I’ve seen a lot of changes, but I have enjoyed working here from day one,” Conley said. “I am totally satisfied.”

Conley’s comments came on Thursday after a ceremony to break ground on the plant’s planned addition of a new 70,000-square-foot distribution center. The expansion is part of a $10 million investment that is expected to add about 75 new jobs.

Conley said about 25 of the new employees have already been hired and are now in training.

Joel Love, with Adecco Employment, a temporary company that staffs employees for Avery Dennison, said the plant employed about 120 people before the expansion. He said those interested in applying for a job should contact the WIN Job Center.

Gov. Haley Barbour attended Thursday’s ground breaking and he said other companies could learn a thing or two from Avery Dennison and other Mississippi companies by applying Lean Manufacturing techniques.

Lean Manufacturing is defined as a philosophy of production that emphasizes the minimization of the amount of all resources, including time, used in the various activities of the enterprise. It involves identifying and eliminating non-value-adding activities in design, production, supply chain management and dealing with the customers.

Barbour said Cooper Tires in Tupelo used the program in its $35 million expansion as well as Viking Range in Greenwood.

“What you are seeing all over are companies understanding that in a global marketplace they have got to produce high quality and control their costs, more volume with less money, and that is the key to competitiveness,” Barbour said. “This is a company that is doing it.”

Barbour said the expansion is important for Meridian and Lauderdale County.

“This is a world class leading company in its field in the world and if they choose to combine manufacturing and distribution and to do it in Meridian when they could have done it anywhere in the world — they have plants in Mexico and a distribution center in Memphis, Tenn., that they are closing — it says a lot about what they think of the workforce in Meridian, what they think of the support they get from the state and local government in Meridian and I think that’s an important part of the message.”

Steve Burns, director of operations for the North American office production division, said the real beneficiaries of the expansion are not only Avery Dennison’s employees but Avery Dennison’s customers.

“This initiative of putting distribution and manufacturing together allows us to make a product, get it on a truck and get it to our customers quickly, without the added waste of double handling,” he said. “The major beneficiary of this project is really our customers. They are going to get their product faster, with good service and with good quality.”

NEED A JOB?

Anyone interested in applying for a position at Avery Dennison should contact the WIN Job Center at (601) 483-1406 or Avery Dennison 2000 Highway 19 North.