Factory holidays

Cass County companies keep closures to a minimum.

by Denise Massie

It’s been a tradition in the past for factories to shut down operations during the holiday season.

While some may still close for a two-week period, more Cass County factories are only shutting down for a few days.

Skip Kuker, Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation president, said holiday closures are actually a typical procedure.

“A lot of companies do maintenance or update equipment during this time,” he said. “They will have a shortened work week or some may take vacation during this time.”

While the trend for holiday closure varies from company to company, Kuker said the standard amount of time is usually around two weeks.

“Each industry is different,” he explained. “Some are just closed from Christmas Eve day through New Year’s day.”

For workers, the time off can actually be a benefit.

Kuker explained the additional time can help release stress and allow workers to spend time with family and friends.

“Right now, that might be the best thing to do,” he said.

Factory orders have picked up though, Kuker said. Some companies may even need to add additional workforce hours.

Several Cass County factories have seen an increase in orders, especially for the start of the new year.

Jo Ellen Jackson, president of Ironmonger Spring Co. in Walton, said the company won’t be shutting down, expect for the Christmas and New Year’s holiday.

“Typically, we have a lot of orders where our customers want their parts the first day they come back in January,” she said. “We are working on manufacturing those parts and usually ship the last shipping day of the year so they arrive the first working day.”

Jackson said the Walton company, which has been in business for 32 years, typically does not close down for an extended period of time during the holiday season.

“This year, I may not have a full workforce during that time period,” she added. “It will be based on the work load we have for that time period.”

Based on the needs of its customers, Jackson said it’s important to stay open as much as possible during the holiday season.

Todd Miller, president of Myers Spring, said the company will follow the normal holiday routine. Normal days off include two days for Christmas and one or two days for New Year’s.

He said the business has actually thought about closing down for a longer period of time in the past, but hasn’t been able to figure out how.

Some employees take advantage of time off and use it up at the end of the year, so staff is sometimes lighter, Miller added.

“It’s really about trying to figure out our customers’ schedules,” he said. “We are trying to figure out how to meet their schedules and get work done.”

Miller explained a lot of the companies Myers Spring sells to want to have their year-end inventory as low as possible. That way, he said, the end of the year looks good.

However, when this happens, those same businesses will need more supplies at the first of the year, which keeps Myers Spring busy.

“It seems to me, if we shut down, we would have to make up with it for overtime,” he said. “That would get expensive in the following month.”

Miller also feels the workers benefit from not closing the plant down.

“We never force them to take a vacation,” he explained. “That way, people get to allocate their vacation time when they want to take it, rather than have a forced shutdown.”

A Raymond Tinnerman Manufacturing Inc. plant manager Mike Englert also said the company will not be closing down this year.

“We will be taking our normal holiday,” he said. “Two days for each holiday, other than that we are working all other available days.”

According to Englert, it is actually slightly better than it has been in past couple years.

“Normally, we allow people to take extra time off, but we never completely shut down,” he said. “It has been a little steadier in the past months.”

Englert added that December will probably be the best month for the company. Previously, July was the best month due to the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

In the past, the company usually would determine how many days off and vacation days could be used during the first of the month.

“You would see the orders begin to drop off in the beginning of the month,” Englert said. “ Actually our orders increased as December has rolled along.”

While Englert believes some of the workers would enjoy some extra time off, he said the hours are still good.

“Working is putting money in your pocket, so that is a good thing,” he said.

Denise Massie is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5151 or denise.massie@pharostribune.com.

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