Knowlton Technologies intends to hire 20 to 30 new employees
Jan. 7—WATERTOWN — Knowlton Technologies plans to add between 20 and 30 employees and go to a seven-day, 24-hour operation.
Factory Street currently operates six days a weeks, 24 hours a daily.
Knowlton, a microfiber manufacturer that uses high-tech materials and is one of the most well-known businesses in the city, has 160 employees.
According to William Harden, the company’s site manager, the plans to attend the seven-day operation will not be realized due to a labor shortage. It will take time to hire additional workers, and then it could take three to six months for them to learn how to use machinery.
After hearing about the new job opportunities, David J. Zembiec (CEO of Jefferson County Economic Development) said, “it was great news.”
He stated that the company is one of the city’s most prestigious companies, with a 200-year-old heritage. “The company reinvented itself with a wide range of products.”
Knowlton also makes liners for aircraft and brake filters, he stated.
Eastman Chemical Co. was based in Kingston, Tenn. It acquired Knowlton Technologies in 2014 and made several improvements to the plant.
Mr. Harden explained that the company will be creating a new parking lot across from the former Mick’s Place Bar and making improvements, with the help of the new employees.
Already, the company needs more parking. He stated that employees are now parking along Factory Street as well as in a lot next to the Napa auto shop on Mill Street.
The 60-space new parking lot won’t solve the parking shortage but it will reduce stress for employees who park further away, Mr. Harden said.
The demolition work inside the former bar has already begun and the building at 202 Factory St. is expected to begin coming down “inthe next month or so,” he stated.
He said that the new, well-lit lot will initially consist of gravel, but will be paved in the spring.
The company bought Mick’s Place from Johnson Family Real Property in October for $275,000.
Mick’s Place was closed three years ago. Watertown Savings Bank had closed the property.
Knowlton, which is the longest continuously running paper mill in the country, celebrated its 200th birthday in 2008.
After being bought by Clark Rice and George W. Knowlton in 1824, the Knowlton family gave the name Knowlton to the paper factory that was established on the site in 1808. Under the management of John C. Knowlton and George W. Knowlton Jr., Knowlton Brothers was formed.