CONAGRA STAYS IN ARCHBOLD
BREAKING NEWS
by David Pugh
Buckeye Staff Writer

Just over a year ago, Jim Wyse, Archbold mayor, said he had a knot in his stomach as he talked to the press and electronic media about the announced closing of Archbold's ConAgra plant and the loss of well over 300 jobs.

On Thursday, Sept. 20, there was no knot in his stomach as he discussed Con Agra management's decision to keep the factory open and retain more than 300 jobs.

The plant was originally supposed to close in January 2007. The closure was put back until March, and then postponed again to November. 

Company officials summoned the plant's workforce to a meeting at Sauder Village, Wednesday morning, Sept. 19, where they received the news.

By mid-morning, word of the decision was leaking out of the plant and into the community.

Stephanie Childs, a ConAgra company spokesperson, officially confirmed the news Thursday morning.

Childs confirmed that the Archbold plant, the former LaChoy Food Products, will be "kept open for the foreseeable future."

"We are continually evaluating our business needs, and now, in particular, because of our innovation agenda, and because of our focus on growth, we've determined that there may be new opportunities for our canning platform, which led us to the decision to keep Archbold open.

"We are continuously evaluating our business needs, and how each of our plants may or may not help us to reach those goals."

Childs said there was no particular reason or issue that caused company executives to keep the plant open.

"It's our overall focus and new opportunities for our capabilities within our canning manufacturing.  We looked at that and decided that there may be opportunities for the entire platform, which includes Archbold," she said.  

Childs said a decision has not be made regarding exactly what production lines will be in operation in Archbold.

"We are still looking at what our production will look like in the coming months. We still make a variety of canned food products there.
 
Ft. Worth, Texas

Originally, Archbold's production was to be moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where ConAgra was constructing a new plant.

An existing plant at Fort Worth was scheduled for closure.

"We have let our employees in Fort Worth know they will be remaining, that we will keep our existing Fort Worth location open for the time being, for the foreseeable future as well.

"We have put a hold on construction on our new building while we evaluated the opportunities there."

Archbold and Fort Worth are the only two plants that are impacted by the recent decisions, she said. The Perrysburg ConAgra plant is still on the shutdown list.

The decision to retain Archbold and Fort Worth "was made recently by our senior operations management."

"We are definitely pleased we are able to share this information with our employees there in Archbold," Childs said.

"We have really great employees in Archbold, and across the company. This decision really was made on the fact that we have new opportunities, and we see Archbold fitting into our ability to meet those goals."

Jobs Saved

Wyse said when the plant closure announcement was made Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006, there were 370 persons working in the Archbold ConAgra plant.

As of Thursday, Sept. 20, Wyse said the number was 326.

Childs said employment at the Archbold facility fluctuates with seasonal demands and needs.

During the past year, Wyse said Archbold ConAgra employees and management never lost hope of reversing the closure decision.

All employees rallied.

"They came out with a logo, and a slogan. They had T-shirts created with the slogan on it," Wyse said.

They found new ways to cut costs and increase efficiencies. They did so well, that in July they were named the plant of the quarter for the entire company.

But ConAgra's staff did not do it alone; there was assistance from the village of Archbold, along with support from Fulton County's economic development arm, and even the office of former Ohio Governor Bob Taft.

"Early in July, when our $6 million wastewater treatment plant expansion got to the point where it could handle more capacity, we advised them that the amount of BOD loading (biological oxygen demand, a measure of the strength of wastewater) the plant could handle would increase.

In August, village officials created another tier in the water rate system. The new tier discounts a customer's water bill if more than 20 million gallons per month is used. ConAgra is the only water customer in the village that uses that much.

"That was an effort on our part to have them continue to use water at such a high level."

Village officials also came up with a plan to discount the company's wastewater bill, to compensate for water that was going into cans and leaving the building, rather than going into the village sanitary sewer system.

The savings was capped at 10% of the wastewater portion of the bill.

"Currently, we continue to work with them to find more effective ways to do that, but those required more time, and we were trying to assist the plant in reducing costs wherever we could, which would assist them in being more competitive in bidding for other product lines," Wyse said.

Village officials also went to the State of Ohio looking for grant money to provide more access to the plant for railroad cars. In the end, Wyse said company officials decided to load their products into shipping containers and then send those containers by truck to a multi-modal terminal at Findlay. There, the containers were placed on train cars.

"I like to think our dialogue caused other options to be explored, and they found another way to cut their transportation costs," Wyse said.

Most recently, the village entered into a small Community Reinvestment Act tax abatement agreement with the company. While the saving from the tax abatement is small, the partnership between the Village of Archbold and ConAgra allows the plant to obtain a discounted electricity rate from Toledo Edison.

Wyse said work continues with the company as local management and village officials try to find more ways to help ConAgra cut costs.
 
Thrill Of Victory

Wyse fell back to an old television show, ABC's Wide World of Sports, to describe his feelings about the announced.

"A year ago, it was the agony of defeat. In the last 24 hours," he said Thursday afternoon, "it's been the thrill of victory."

Wyse said Thursday morning, he went to the plant for the 6:15 am shift change to congratulate the workers and thank them for the efforts towards keeping the plant in Archbold.

"I have never seen so many smiles at 6:15 in the morning," he said.

"Several of them said what a burden has been lifted off their shoulders."

Wyse said some employees were saying, "Boy, now I can get that car I've been putting off."

With ConAgra employees comfortable with their future, Wyse hoped they would begin making major purchases they had been putting off, creating a ripple effect through the entire community, if not the region.