A defense supplier from McKees Rocks with a government contract to make 10 million polypropylene sandbags for use in Iraq is setting up a factory in Westmoreland County that could employ several hundred unskilled laborers.

Total Industrial & Packaging has agreed to lease a 52,000-square-foot building in the Schreiber Industrial Park along the Allegheny River in New Kensington and Arnold for the division, to be called All American Bag & Packaging.

The company initially expects to hire about 200 at a starting rate of $7 an hour to make the bags, which will be woven from extruded polypropylene fibers, General Manager Tom Cunningham said yesterday. Employment could rise to 400 within a year, he said.

		To apply Job seekers can send resumes to Total Industrial & Packaging at 1300 Island Ave., McKees Rocks, PA 15136

The new factory allows the company, which is investing about $3 million in the project and already supplies sandbags to the government, to expand significantly. "We will be making 150 bags a minute 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Mr. Cunningham said.

The industrial park was attractive in part because it is a federal Small Business Administration HUBZone, or Historically Underutilized Business Zone, which gives the company preference in applying for government contracts. It also qualifies for state tax breaks as a Keystone Opportunity Zone.

Mr. Cunningham said he had support from Gov. Rendell, local politicians and economic development agencies in Westmoreland County

The company, which will continue operations in Mc- Kees Rocks, also had looked at sites in East Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and Jeannette before deciding on the Schreiber Industrial Park, established some 30 years ago at the site of a former Alcoa plant.

"This is going to be a state of the art factory. There is not going to be anything like this in the country in terms of size and what they can do," said Raymond Roberts, an attorney working on the project with Mr. Cunningham.

Although the defense contract is key to the operation, Mr. Roberts said the company will seek to supply bags of varying sizes to private industry, including agriculture, and to other government agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Transportation.

Founded in 1992 and owned by Bernadette J. Cunningham, Total Industrial is a certified Defense Department contractor that also acts as a stocking depot for the government.

It ships products daily to the war zone, some of which are needed within as little as four days from the date of order. That requires the company to keep a large inventory on hand, Mr. Roberts said.

Total Industrial also specializes in military packaging for products that are produced by other military suppliers as well as products it makes.

Mr Cunningham said the company will be filling positions from plant manager to janitor, although most positions will be for production work that requires no prior skills.