Auburn: Could plant have been saved?

Auburn is the latest Nebraska city to lose a major manufacturer, and some folks are questioning whether city and state officials fought hard enough to keep the cabinet-making plant that employs 171 people.

“It's an economic catastrophe” for a smaller community, said John Louderback of Hagerstown, Md., who has ties to the Auburn area.

Mayor Bob Engles said he was given no warning before being told Sept. 29 that the Armstrong World Industries plant would close Dec. 18.

At the same time, the city learned that Armstrong's only other cabinet plant, in Thompsontown, Pa., could apply for $1.15 million in incentives from the State of Pennsylvania for an expansion that would add 125 jobs within three years. The incentives include an $800,000 grant and $350,000 in job training assistance.

“By the time all that happened, there was nothing we could do,” Engles said, despite follow-up conversations with Armstrong executives at the Lancaster, Pa., headquarters.

The multibillion-dollar company has 11,000 employees and more than 30 plants in nine countries. Armstrong makes flooring, ceilings and cabinets.

Given a chance, Nebraska could match any incentives offered by Pennsylvania, Engles said.

“I know what DED (Department of Economic Development) can do and the State of Nebraska if anything could be done,” Engles said.

Beth Riley, a spokeswoman for Armstrong, said the recession and drop in the housing market hit the company hard, and it closed three other plants around the country this year. Incentives for the cabinet plant offered by Pennsylvania were welcome, Riley said, but the company had other factors to consider when deciding which of two plants that make cabinets would have to be closed.

The Pennsylvania plant is bigger, with nearly 400 employees. It makes a broader array of cabinet products, and it is closer to Armstrong's primary markets in the Northeast, she said.

Other Nebraska cities to lose manufacturing plants since last year include DeWitt, when its 300-employee Irwin Industrial Tool plant stopped making Vise-Grip locking pliers, and Kearney, when a Powermate plant that employed 200 people closed down.

Louderback, whose wife, Kris, grew up about 15 miles northwest of Auburn in Brock, Neb., said he heard about the Auburn plant closing and believed that state officials could do more. Kris Louderback's aunt has worked at the Armstrong plant for 39 years.

“The governor has to get involved,” Louderback said. “If the governor isn't willing to get involved, then nothing probably will happen.”

Richard Baier, the state's economic development director, said the closing surprised state officials as well, and he called Armstrong on behalf of Gov. Dave Heineman. Baier said the state could offer similar incentives to those rolled out by Pennsylvania for expansion, but the company said more than incentives were involved.

“We're kind of fighting a number of factors here,” Baier said.

Nebraska does not maintain incentives programs designed specifically to help companies retain already existing jobs, in part because they are difficult to administer and troubled businesses could fold despite extra help, Baier said. Nor does federal money recently given to states to help stimulate the economy offer incentives targeted at retaining jobs, Baier said.

Armstrong had looked at state incentives to expand in Nebraska, even as recently as six months ago, Baier said.

“They would have done that if they had not been hit by the economy as it related to the home environment and home construction,” he said.

About 3,300 people live in Auburn, Engels said. Other major employers in the area include power plants run by the Nebraska Public Power District, a Cargill beef processing plant in Nebraska City, the state prison in Tecumseh and Peru State College.

Engels and other officials were lining up assistance for Armstrong workers losing their jobs, including retraining programs at area colleges and seminars for people interested in starting their own businesses. Officials also were trying to find another company to move into the plant, Engels said.

Contact the writer:

444-1117, joe.ruff@owh.com

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