Steve Garbacz and Rachelle Haughn, The Commercial Review
The affect of the slumping economy on local industries seems to be a mixed bag.
While officials with some industries are crossing their fingers and hoping for the best, others haven't even seen a ripple. For at least one business, a slump in the economy means a windfall.
Whatever the case, those with jobs appear to be holding onto them as tightly as they can, and working extra hard to help cover for those no longer employed.
An official with a local tool and die company summed up how some industries are surviving these days.
"(You have to) be smart where you can be smart and get lean where you can get lean," said Paul Reffitt, plant manager for Performance Tool, Portland.
In Jay County, plants that make products associated with the auto industry appear to be suffering the greatest. Layoffs and cutbacks seem to be the only way to survive.
"I would like to see a turnaround like, tomorrow," said Faron Parr, president and CEO of Advanced Seal Technology in Bryant. His company does work for several automotive producers and John Deere, which have all cut back orders. "I can't see it getting much slower."
Parr's staff, including himself, is down to four as the company is struggling to produce three or four days a week doing sealing work for aluminum pieces such as oil pans on vehicles and tractors, of which sales have dropped dramatically in recent months. The second shift was laid off about a year ago and the plant manager was let go just weeks ago.
The story is nearly the same for other companies producing parts for vehicles.
F.C.C.-Indiana, which produces clutches for automakers like Honda, eliminated 96 workers in late January as the auto industry continues to struggle.
General affairs officer Eric Garringer at F.C.C. said the auto industry has been the main reason for the job losses at the plant and that the company is currently trying to control expenses as business continues to lag.
Performance Tool and Portland Forge also make products for vehicles. Both companies have had to make several cutbacks to survive the rocky economy.
"The impact has been severe on our business," said Pat Bennett, president of Portland Forge. According to figures available from the state, 30 employees were laid off on Feb. 13.
Bennett said cutbacks in the staff began after the first of the year. Portland Forge manufactures steel forgings for farm equipment, vehicles and the construction industry. Although Bennett was not allowed to release layoff figures, more layoffs were known to have been made this week.
The recent closings of several Caterpillar plants has not only impacted Portland Forge, but also Performance Tool.
The tool and die maker is a contract machinist through Portland Forge that manufactures parts for Caterpillar. Performance Tool also manufactures items for Moser Engineering.
"The majority of my lathes are ready for Caterpillar," Reffitt said. So far this year, the company has only had to make one layoff. The workforce has been reduced by not replacing employees who leave the company. Reffitt said he currently is down seven employees.
"I feel pretty lucky that we only had to let one go," he said.
Joyce/Dayton, however, hasn't been as lucky.
Last month, 13 employees were laid off, and those who still have jobs, have seen their hours cut.
"We're still open five days a week," said Gary Fulton, plant manager. He said employees currently are working 32-hour work weeks with no overtime allowed. The office staff's hours have been cut 10 percent, he said.
He said the amount of work orders is down 30 to 50 percent below what it was last year. The company manufactures solar power materials, gas and oil products and equipment for satellite communications.
He said his business is struggling because large corporations are cutting back on capital expenditures, such as buying solar panels.
For the industries facing an everyday uphill battle - such as Joyce/Dayton - their leaders are doing what is necessary to keep the business above water.
Bennett said that he works every day to try to find ways to save the company money and keep it afloat.
And Reffitt said he began preparing for the economic slump as soon as word of it spread in May of last year.
"We had our eyes wide open going into this," he said. "We're going to hang on best as we can."
At Pennville Custom Cabinetry, remaining employees are working hard to keep the operation strong.
"I kind of feel like it seems like everybody has stepped up to the plate," said Mark Goldman, president of the business. He said his remaining 36 employees have been sharing tasks to cover for the 17 jobs that were cut in April of 2008. "People are really appreciative to have a job right now," he said.
To help generate more cabinet sales, Goldman has been traveling all over the country to promote his products. He also has gotten creative and more innovative. "It seems like the rest of the world just rolled over and played dead," he said.
He also recently tried to generate teamwork and improve morale by holding a Christmas party for his employees.
"They want to win as a team now," he said.
Although there have been no parties to cheer up employees of Fortco Plastics and Hartzell Fan, there is some good news on the horizon.
"We're getting ready to grow quite a bit," said plant manager Brad Schell of Fortco, despite the fact that about 20 people have been laid off in past months. "We're getting four or five new machines."
"Our April schedule is full and we're going to be working some overtime," said Jim Gray, vice president of human resources for Hartzell, which shed three of 39 employees since the beginning of the year. "We have seen some encouraging signs out there. I think it's going to be a very slow, gradual improvement throughout this year."
For other manufacturers, the effect seems to be different from place to place. Diversification and range has been a major contributor for several companies to help stave off slumps.
For factories that make consumer goods - such as food, drinks, electrical parts and casket pieces - company officials have barely seen a ripple, if any change at all.
For Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Accelerated Curing, S.D.P. Manufacturing, Tyson Foods, Fortco Plastics and W & M Manufacturing, no news is good news. Most of these companies aren't really hiring new employees, but they also don't have to let anyone go.
"We've been staying pretty steady, not real, real busy," said operations manager Chad McFarland at Accelerated Curing. "Luckily we're getting 40 hours."
Although McFarland said there has been a little downturn in areas such as automotive, the company, which provides scratch-resistant coatings for plastics and does "a little bit of everything," continues to complete work for other more reliable goods such as gas meter covers.
Things also are steady at Dayton Progress Corp.
Plant manager Dan Sharkey of Dayton Progress said work has decreased slightly, but the company's ties to the global market have helped the tooling producer stay afloat as it makes stamps for other manufacturers.
"We don't have anybody laid off," he said. "There are some people that are actually working overtime. Compared to a year ago, we may be down, we'll say, 10 percent.
"It's truly all over the place," he added. "Even though we're 50 percent off on automotive, the things we make also go into washers and dryers."
People also are keeping their jobs at Createc Corp.
Cindy Morris at Createc couldn't release specifics, but said the operation is "holding steady" and no layoffs were anticipated at this time. She said the Portland branch has been managing the recession and was not experiencing any major problems at this time.
For others still, the economy has only caused a temporary shake-up as conditions are already looking to improve.
"We acquired one of our competitors just three months ago," Sharkey said, explaining one opportunity his company has taken advantage of. "That has maintained our work level because we cannibalized their work."
The work level at S.D.P. Manufacturing, Dunkirk, has remained unchanged, said Stan Pitman, company president.
"Well, the economy hasn't actually had any affect on our company at all," Pitman said of the business that manufactures equipment for electrical companies such as Jay County REMC and American Electric Power. "We're still one of the lucky ones."
The same can be said for Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Tyson Mexican Original, and W & M Manufacturing, all of Portland.
"It hasn't affected us at all," said Ron Stockton, Coca-Cola Bottling Company. "We're just thankful it isn't."
"Portland's doing just fine," said Bill Marty, Tyson community development manager for Indiana.
DeWayne Acree of W & M Manufacturing said diversity has been the key to his company's survival.
The majority of what is manufactured at the North Morton Street plant is decorative hardware for caskets, but finishes for plastics and metals, hard coats, moldings also are made there. He said two new sales people were recently hired to try to find new products to manufacture.
"It's one of those things that you can't" avoid purchasing, he said of caskets, which is the majority of what is produced at the plant.
Oddly, for one local business, a slumping economy has meant success.
"We just started to slow down," said Rick Jones, plant manager of the Red Gold factory in Geneva. "We were extremely busy from tomato packing until January."
Jones said because fewer people can afford to go out to eat, they are cooking at home. He said one of the biggest sellers right now is spaghetti sauce.
Until recently, the plant was processing tomato products 24-7. Now, the plant is down to 24-hour-days, five days a week.
"In our business, there's been a tremendous upswing," he said happily. "We seem to be staying strong, continuing to hire. Overall, business is steady."
The plant currently has about 300 employees. Whenever an employee leaves the company, he or she is replaced.
Officials at Saint-Gobain Containers in Dunkirk declined to comment for this article. As of January, it had nearly 400 employees and was producing about 2.5 million longneck beer bottles every day. It recently made a $27 million expansion.