McClain Closing Down Manufacturing Plants

In a plan to salvage its dwindling business, McClain Industries laid off all hourly employees at its Demopolis plant on Jan. 8, 2004. Nearly eight months later, the company has announced that its plan failed.

All remaining employees at McClain E-Z Pack were informed Aug. 23 that the company will be "dissolved" on Tuesday, Aug. 31.

"The employment of all McClain employees will be terminated at this time," said a release issued by owner Kenneth McClain.

McClain, which manufactured waste containers, systematically laid off its entire workforce in the span of a year. In 2003, 30 employees were released; in January 2004, more than 40 hourly employees lost their jobs. And earlier this week, the final 30 employees were given a week to find new work.

"In a way, I think this was kind of expected," said Teddy Ford, plant manager of the Demopolis industry. "Employees could see us struggling, and they saw business slowing down."

An inventory performed last week made the announcement even less surprising. 

"It was probably the most extensive inventory we've ever had," he said.

McClain purchased the industry from Waste Management in 1996, but a tough economic stretch is partly to blame for the company's closing.

"The McClain organization... has suffered from the lack of business over the past several years," McClain said. "It has sold off pieces of the company to regain its previous sales position in the waste equipment industry."

Along with the closure of its Demopolis plant, McClain also will close manufacturing centers in Winesburg, Ohio; Galion, Ohio, and Oklahoma City.

Jay Shows, executive director of the Demopolis Industrial Development Board, said he would work hard with McClain officials to determine what avenues the community can take in the marketing of the soon-deserted building.

"We're going to be on the phone with the [Alabama Development Office], and we've already notified a project manager," Shows said. "Right now, I'm not sure what kind of stipulations we're under in terms of the building, though."

All employees who lost their jobs Monday will receive assistance from a "rapid response" team, Ford said.

"That's one of the things on my list to do," he said. "Most of these guys are welders, and there just aren't a lot of jobs here for them."

Speculation about the reasons McClain closed is rampant. According to Ford, the increased price of steel and freight weighed heavily on the company.

"We're paying three times what we used to pay for steel," he said.

Others speculate that management on the corporate level was not effective in effectively helping the company recover after the initial round of lay-offs took place in 2003.

Ford would not comment on reasons other than the increased price of manufacturing and the declining number of orders at his company.

When McClain officially leaves its building at the Airport Industrial Park, Shows believes Demopolis has the potential to market the 100,000-square-foot building.