Rubbermaid to close Iowa plant

<p>About 525 workers at the Newell Rubbermaid Inc. plant in Centerville will lose their jobs when the company closes the plant after 21 years of operation.</p><p>Workers were told Wednesday evening that the plant would close Sept. 15 and production would be moved to Winfield, Kan.</p><p>Workers make Rubbermaid brand garden sheds and other lawn and garden products for the Atlanta-based manufacturer. The company announced in September a three-year plan to streamline manufacturing and cut overhead including 5,000 jobs. The company has about 31,000 employees worldwide.</p><p>Company officials announced in January that they would close a plant in Canton, Ohio, and announced in July the closure of a factory in Goodyear, Ariz.</p><p>Iowa economic development officials said they have been trying to hold discussions with the company since January to offer incentives to keep the jobs in Iowa.</p><p>"We were trying to talk with them about the tools we did have for retention and they just wouldn't even have that conversation with us," said Iowa Department of Economic Development Deputy Director Tina Hoffman.</p><p>She said it appeared last year that Iowa had won a competition with other plants for a $10 million expansion at Centerville. The state offered about $1 million in tax breaks, but after the top management at Newell Rubbermaid changed, their plans apparently took another direction, Hoffman said.</p><p>Mark D. Ketchum, 56, who retired in 2003 from Procter & Gamble after 33 years, was hired as president and chief executive officer of Newell Rubbermaid on Feb. 14.</p><p>Gov. Tom Vilsack sent several letters to the company and talked with top management by phone to set up a face-to-face interview, but it never happened, Hoffman said.</p><p>Vilsack, in a statement, said he was saddened to hear of the plant closing.</p><p>"I, along with community leaders, have attempted to engage Rubbermaid officials on multiple occasions in a discussion regarding the future of the Centerville plant. We also offered Rubbermaid a state incentive package to expand its operations and keep these jobs in Iowa. Ultimately, the company chose to consolidate its operations in Kansas," Vilsack said.</p><p>Repeated telephone messages left Thursday for Newell Rubbermaid officials weren't immediately returned.</p><p>Regional economic development officials said the community will grieve the loss of the jobs briefly then get to work refocusing its efforts.</p><p>"This is going to be a difficult situation to manage, however, Centerville and Appanoose County do have a history of overcoming such diversity," said Keith Sherman, president of the Appanoose Economic Development Corp.</p><p>He said the plan is to focus on entrepreneurs interested in developing local businesses with potential to grow.</p><p>"We will be looking for companies that may employ 50 to 60 people and have multiples of those as opposed to having one large company," he said.</p><p>The 500,000-square-foot Rubbermaid factory drew employees from a wide area of southern Iowa and northern Missouri.</p><p>Sherman said the employment at the plant represents about 30 percent of manufacturing labor in Appanoose County.</p><p>Centerville, the largest city in the county, has a population of 5,924. It is located 70 miles southeast of Des Moines in a rural region of southern Iowa that has traditionally relied heavily on manufacturing for its economic base, but has seen many plant closures and layoffs in recent years.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cde774)</p><p>HASH(0x1cde81c)</p><p>HASH(0x1cde900)</p>

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