Minas Basin Pulp & Power Company Limited is a family-owned and -operated company with 162 full-time employees. The company produces linerboard and coreboard from recycled material and is affiliated with other Nova Scotia companies that convert linerboard into cardboard boxes and coreboard into paper tubes.
Minas Basin Pulp & Power introduced a major technology change in the workplace and greatly expanded its operations, hiring many new workers. Experienced employees needed to refresh their Essential Skills to learn how to operate new equipment and a large number of new recruits needed to learn the business from the ground up.
Minas Basin Pulp & Power is an example of a company that invested heavily in its physical plant and in people to remain competitive. The company needed to improve the Essential Skills of its employees so that they could easily learn how to use state-of the-art technology.
Minas Basin Pulp & Power draws its workers from the local community. Like other companies in this situation, it found that the level of education it required for its employees lagged behind the skill levels needed for high performance in the workplace. Minas Basin Pulp & Power had to upgrade the skills of existing workers and then raise the educational requirement for new recruits to ensure they came equipped with the required Essential Skills.