Glatfelter is an international manufacturer of engineered papers and specialized printing papers. Its products can be found in best-selling novels, Bibles, tobacco products, tea bags, postage stamps, financial publications and decorative laminates. Worldwide, the company employs 3,800.

The pending move to York is the result of the changing nature of the company’s business, according to George H. Glatfelter II, the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Now a larger, more specialized corporation, Glatfelter’s products and operations span the globe with facilities in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, France and the Philippines. As a result, the space within the company’s main office complex in Spring Grove is no longer adequate to house both the corporate staff and the divisional management team, the group which oversees the company’s business and operations in Spring Grove and in Neenah, Wisconsin.

"Rather than move to a larger metropolitan area like many other paper companies, we chose to maintain our corporate roots in York County," Mr. Glatfelter said, adding that this approach balances the company’s need for additional office space with its ongoing cost control efforts.

The move to York will offer several key benefits. The company’s executive management team will be able to focus more on global, strategic issues and delegate mill- and divisional-specific issues to the appropriate managers who will remain at the Spring Grove mill. In addition, the move will allow the company to consolidate its divisional and mill-based personnel who are presently spread out in different buildings within the mill complex and throughout the Borough of Spring Grove.

"The consolidation of staff will help facilitate better dialogue among key people and ultimately help us better manage our business," Mr. Glatfelter said.

Mr. Glatfelter went on to emphasize that the company will continue its support of activities and organizations within the Spring Grove area and will move ahead with the New Century Project, which is aimed at continued improvement of the Spring Grove mill’s environmental performance.

"Spring Grove is our home and an important symbol of our heritage - that will never change. We will continue to work very hard at being a good neighbor in every sense of the word by committing our time and resources to make the Spring Grove mill a great place to work and the Spring Grove community a great place to live and raise a family," Mr. Glatfelter added.

  1999 The P.H. Glatfelter Company