Truss maker shuts down temporarily
Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:13 AM PDT
By Erik Olson
Printable version
E-mail this articleTri-County Truss has temporarily shut down manufacturing at its plant at the Mint Farm Industrial Park in Longview, citing slumping sales in the midst of the nationwide housing collapse, said company official Roy Schiferl.
The move, which took place in mid-June, resulted in the layoffs of about 30 employees in the company's roof and floor truss facility, said Schiferl, vice president of operations for Woodinville Lumber, the West Coast branch of parent company Lyman Lumber. The lumber yard is shut down, but wall-panel manufacturing will continue, he said.
About 49 employees remain at the facility to help fill current orders, which are manufactured at the company's main facility in Burlington, Wash., located about 70 miles north of Seattle, Schiferl said.
The arrival of Tri-County Truss in 2006 was seen as a coup for the city of Longview, which had been struggling to attract business to the city-owned Mint Farm for years since the industrial park opened in 1998.
Minnesota-based Lyman Lumber, family owned for more than a century, liked the 37-acre space at the Mint Farm because of the available industrial land and the easier access to Olympia and Tacoma markets. The Longview plant also ships trusses as far south as Salem. The company had hoped to bring 480 jobs to the Longview at its three subsidiary companies by the time it reached full capacity in 2010.
However, the number of home starts has fallen about 50 percent nationwide since Tri-County Truss opened in Longview, cutting the demand for the product, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Longview plant hasn't closed for good, but falling homes sales and manufacturing would need to level before manufacturing would restart, Schiferl said. He added that he doesn't know if the company will be able to keep pace with its original plans to create 480 jobs in Longview by 2010.
"It's all relative to the market," Schiferl said.
The shutdown will have little effect on the coffers of the city of Longview, which will continue to lease the Mint Farm on Industrial Way to Lyman Lumber, said City Manager Bob Gregory.
But the layoffs of employees will have an impact that ripples beyond the Mint Farm, Gregory added.
"Any of our businesses shutting down their operations is not good for the community," he said.
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