Louisiana-Pacific
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| Louisiana-Pacific Corp. | |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Founded | Portland, Oregon (1973) |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Key people | Rick Frost, CEO Curt Stevens, Executive Vice President, administration/CFO Harold Stanton, Executive Vice President, specialty products and sales |
| Products | oriented strand board engineered wood products siding |
| Employees | 7100 (as of 2003) |
| Website | www.lpcorp.com |
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation NYSE: LPX, commonly known as "LP", is a building materials manufacturer. It was founded in 1973 and is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Key products are oriented strand board, decking, molding and other trimming materials, vinyl and wood siding, and other engineered wood products.
As of 2005, LP has 29 manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Canada, and one near Malalhue in Chile.
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[edit] History
LP was founded in 1973 as part of a court-ordered monopoly breakup of Georgia Pacific. LP was headed by company president Harry Merlo for the first 22 years, who was known for his flamboyant style and generous civic contributions.
During the 1990s, LP was the defendant in a major class-action lawsuit over its OSB siding product known as Inner Seal, manufactured from the early 1990s through 1996, due to its poor performance in humid environments. This product has since been replaced by other improved siding products. The deadline for filing suit passed in 2002.
Much of LP's growth in the 1990s came through acquisition of other building materials companies, such as ABTco in the eastern United States and Forex in eastern Canada.
LP was headquartered in Portland, Oregon from 1973 through 2004, when it moved the headquarters office to Nashville. It owns the naming rights to LP Field, the stadium which houses the Tennessee Titans and Tennessee State University football teams in Nashville.
[edit] Engineered Wood Siding (SmartSide)
Louisiana Pacific operates several engineered wood siding mills that produce many 50yr limited warranty siding products. These include 4x8 panel sheeting, 5,6,8,10, and 12 inch lap siding, and many different sizes of engineered trim products.
Siding products made by the siding group are different from OSB (oriented strand board) in that they include more of certain ingredients (blend is proprietary) to make the board stand up to mother nature better than a sub-floor product. Siding boards are also denser and more rigid than traditional OSB to help the board remain structurally sound throughout the term of its warranty.
A new product has been added to the siding/specialty group in the past year and has been met with great enthusiasm by the building community; SmartSide vented soffit is on the market now and comes in a variety of sizes and thicknesses.
[edit] Safety
Industrial safety is a driving force for Louisiana Pacific; LP maintains a well trained safety staff and has mandatory safety training every month for all employees. Many of the mills in the corporation have achieved the gold standard of safety awards, OSHA's VPP Star certification. LP also has a safety committee in place at every mill it operates; inclusion is encouraged and voluntary; the members of the committee dedicate themselves to keeping themselves and other employees safe at work and home.
