Hickory, North Carolina-based components manufacturer Hickory Springs Manufacturing has boosted foam fabricating operations at its plants in Ocala, Florida; Verona, Mississippi; and Lenoir, North Carolina. As a result, its factory in Cleveland, Tennessee, has closed.
“Because of recent achievements we have made in operational efficiencies and our focus on lean manufacturing, we have been able to increase capacity at our other southeastern facilities to better serve our customers,” said Michael Hinshaw, chief operating officer at HSM.
Production equipment has been moved from Cleveland to the company’s other foam fabrication facilities, and the majority of customers that had been serviced by the Cleveland factory have been transitioned to the other plants.
The Cleveland factory primarily serviced customers in Tennessee and north Georgia. Most customers were furniture manufacturers, but the factory also had customers in the health care, medical and packaging industries.
The plant’s 34 employees were given 60 days’ notice of the consolidation and received retention bonuses for staying on the job until production ended. Workers also were offered jobs at other HSM locations, and four agreed to relocate to the Ocala factory, Hinshaw said.
