Whirlpool Vendor Huntington Foam To Close In Fort Smith

The president of Huntington Foam, a vendor to Whirlpool’s operation in Fort Smith, said Wednesday the company will close its Fort Smith operation as early as May.

About 14 jobs will be lost from a “skeleton crew” now at Huntington’s Fort Smith plant, but the operation once employed as many as 68, said Gary McLaughlin, president of Jeanette, Pa.-based Huntington Foam.

“When they are done, unfortunately we will have to close our doors,” McLaughlin said, referring to the planned closure by mid-2012 of Whirlpool’s Fort Smith refrigeration plant.

Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool Corp. announced Oct. 27 it would close its large Fort Smith operation by mid-2012. Whirlpool employed about 1,000 at the time of the announcement, but had employed around 4,500 in early 2006.

The Huntington jobs are some of the 472 jobs estimated to be lost from reductions or closings among Whirlpool vendors in the Fort Smith area. Gregory Hamilton, senior research economist at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, produced an economic impact study for The City Wire that indicated Whirlpool’s departure would result in 1,549 estimated jobs lost, with 472 of those from area vendors and 80 outside the Fort Smith area.

Fortis Plastics was the first Whirlpool vendor to announce it would close — and it announced nine days before Whirlpool said it would close its Fort Smith plant.

The Fortis operation, housed in what was formerly Atlantis Plastics, has had an up and down cycle in Fort Smith. The company announced in November 2008 a layoff of 70 employees, only to announce in February 2009 it would expand the Fort Smith plant — an expansion which added 77 jobs. At the time, the company employed about 230 in Fort Smith.

Fortis employment trickled down to about 100 on Oct. 18 when company officials said they would close the plant.

The Great American Group is conducting an auction Thursday (Jan. 19) more more than 600 pieces of equipment owned by Fortis, included those from the Fort Smith plant. Other plants closed by Fortis are in South Bend, Ind., and Poplar Bluff, Mo.

In consolidating its operations, Fortis Plastics has closed a total of nine plants since Monomoy Capital put the business together in 2008. In 2011, the company announced plans to close four plants along with its corporate headquarters in South Bend by the end of the year.

‘SUPPORT SYSTEM’
McLaughlin, the Huntington president, said company officials were “trying to hold out hopes” that Whirlpool would start a new line or stay in Fort Smith because both companies enjoyed “a great support system” and solid workforce.

“There is just a good work ethic in that area,” McLaughlin said of the Fort Smith plant. “I can’t reiterate and I can’t emphasis enough that we love the Fort Smith community.”

However, McLaughlin said, Whirlpool was the bulk of the company’s business for the Fort Smith plant, and is forced to close after it sends the final shipment to Whirlpool.

He said the closing could come as early as May.

Founded in 1990, Huntington Foam operates plants in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arkansas, as well as two facilities in Mexico.

Michael Tilley with our content partner, The City Wire, is the author of this report. He can be reached by email at [email protected].