New product packaging operation to hire 75 in Iowa City

A product packaging company will launch an operation in Iowa City next month to assemble retail displays of Procter & Gamble products.

Quality Associates, a minority-owned business from Cincinnati, expects to hire 75 for its new facility in the Scott Six Industrial Park at 2630 Independence Ave.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Oates said the location was chosen to be close to the Procter & Gamble production facilities in Iowa City, but the company will be seeking other business in the area.

Plans call for a three-shift operation that will operate five days per week, Oates said.

Quality Associates is owned by company President Delores Epps of Cincinnati, who is African-American. The company's sales have grown by 10 percent or more for several years, right through the recent recession.

“For over two decades we have experienced tremendous growth,” Epps said. She credited the company's continued growth in the recent economic downturn to its “outstanding people and quality services.”

Some of the processes in the facility will be mechanized while others will be performed by hand, Oates said. It will be Quality Associates' fourth packaging center, joining others in the Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Greensboro, N.C., areas.

Quality Associates will take over an existing 245,000-square-foot building owned by Russell Gerdin, chairman of Heartland Express Inc., that has been modified for its needs.

Oates said the company's work force will be mainly full-time with benefits. He declined to detail wage levels, saying they will vary widely by position, experience and other factors.

Production will begin in mid to late March.

Positions still being filled include maintenance technicians, quality inspector/auditors, team leaders, shift managers and forklift drivers with scanning experience.

Oates declined to specify whether Quality Associates will use state or local economic development incentives for the project, saying the company is working with Iowa City Area Development to see what programs may apply.

In addition to ICAD, Quality Associates said the project received support from Iowa Workforce Development, Kirkwood Community College, Septagon Construction and Gerdin.

Quality Associates is the second packaging company in two years to open in Iowa City due mainly to Proctor & Gamble's needs. North Carolina-based RockTenn Co. opened Alliance, a packaging facility in May 2009, which is also in the Scott Six Industrial Park.

Oates said the interest level and quality of applicants has been good. Cover letters and resumes may be e-mailed to the company at jobs@quality-associates.com