O'Sullivan to close southwest Missouri plant after 42 years

<p>Two years after filing for bankruptcy protection, O'Sullivan Industries is closing its Lamar plant, leaving 735 people to look for jobs and the southwest Missouri town with 1 million square feet of manufacturing space to fill.</p><p>The announcement Monday that the maker of ready-to-assemble furniture would shut down sometime between July and October capped months of financial uncertainty for Lamar's largest employer.</p><p>In March, Atlanta-based O'Sullivan reduced all employees' pay by 6.6 percent and said it was suspending matching contributions to savings and profit-sharing plans to increase its cash flow.</p><p>Plant manager Paul Britton said Monday that an "orderly wind-down of its business" has begun. Some employees will be let go immediately, while others will remain during the transition period, he said.</p><p>Founded in the St. Louis area in 1954, O'Sullivan moved to Lamar in 1965.</p><p>Corporate headquarters were moved to Atlanta after Robert S. Parker was appointed president and chief executive officer in 2004. Parker had previously served as CEO of Atlanta-based Newell Rubbermaid's Sharpie/Calphalon Group.</p><p>O'Sullivan emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2006 and later closed its smaller plant in Virginia while appointing a new CEO, Rick Waters. But financial problems continued, and in January, O'Sullivan came within two hours of defaulting on a $219,000 utility bill to the city of Lamar.</p><p>Lynn Calton, Lamar city administrator, said O'Suyllivan has since been current on its bills. The loss of the town's largest employer will have a significant impact, but people have been preparing for months for the possible closing, he said.</p><p>"After the 2005 bankruptcy came out, the damage already had been done," he said. "Home sales fell. People stopped buying new furniture and new cars locally."</p><p>Lamar resident Debbie Little likened the plant closing to the slow death of a friend or loved one that was expected.</p><p>"They have been the heartbeat of the community for some time," Little said Monday. "It is sad to see it end like this."</p><p>Another Lamar resident, Carol Melton, noted that the town recovered when the previous occupant of the plant, Lawn Boy, pulled out. But she wondered where some of the O'Sullivan employees will find work.</p><p>"Some of them are too overqualified for what is available," she said.</p><p>And in a town where almost everyone has worked for the company at some point or has known someone who did, families with multiple members working at the plant who depended on O'Sullivan for benefits may be hit the hardest.</p><p>"That was a double whammy," Melton said.</p><p>Britton, the plant manager, said the decision followed months of efforts by O'Sullivan to restructure its debt and maintain its business through the refinancing of its senior loans or the sale of the company.</p><p>Sauder Woodworking Co., of Archibald, Ohio, will purchase some of O'Sullivan's assets, including intellectual patents, licenses and brands, in a deal that was reached last week, president Kevin Sauder said.</p><p>Sauder said O'Sullivan was being marketed as "a going concern" until a few weeks ago. He visited the factory on March 13 and started the talks that led to the agreement.</p><p>O'Sullivan, like other ready-to-assemble furniture companies, was going strong until a few years ago, when imports and a sharp rise in particle board prices hit the industry, Sauder said.</p><p>"The barrage of imports and higher costs did it," Sauder said. "When demand goes down and costs go up, that is a difficult situation to be in, and they ran out of money."</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cde54c)</p>

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