Rheem returning more than 200 workers to production

Rheem is in the process of calling back as many as 208 people to production at the company’s Fort Smith manufacturing plant, making it the second large manufacturing operation this month to confirm an employee recall.

Rick Lolley, head of human resources for Rheem’s Fort Smith operation, told The City Wire that 148 employees will be called back to help support increased production, including a gas furnace manufacturing line to start up around Nov. 30.

Also, Lolley said, 60 temporary workers will be required for about four months of production. The increased work is both seasonal and the result from “higher forecasted demand,” he said.

Rheem’s Fort Smith operation produces heating and air conditioning systems. The plant has about 1,000 hourly employees and more than 300 salaried employees. Lolley said about 800 employees are active, with the remainder in layoff, on sick leave or some other status.

Lolley would not estimate how long the 148 workers will remain at full employment.

“Things could change, but that’s what we expect to do (bring them back as long as product demand requires),” Lolley explained. “We’re in the seasonal business … that’s hard to know.”

Rheem laid off about 140 workers in July as part of a regular seasonal production slowdown. The company also laid off around 45 Fort Smith workers in late August as part of a non-seasonal production cut.

The Rheem employment boost follows a similar move by Whirlpool Corp.

Whirlpool confirmed Oct. 16 the possible recall of up to 150 workers to support increased refrigerator production planned at its Fort Smith plant for at least the remainder of 2009.

Sources told The City Wire that up to 200 could be recalled, and that seven previously scheduled plant shutdown days around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are now scheduled for production. Also, the sources said production is planned for seven Saturdays between Oct. 31 and Dec. 19.

Continued callbacks could, obviously, help continue to push downward the area’s relatively high unemployment rate. The Fort Smith metro unemployment rate in September was 7%, marking the third consecutive month the Fort Smith metro unemployment rate has fallen from its June 2009 high of 7.8%.

The regional jobless rate remains higher than the 4.5% unemployment rate of September 2008. Also, the number of unemployed in the Fort Smith area was 9,835 in September, up 57.3% over the 6,252 unemployed in September 2008.