Published: August 08, 2008 12:11 pm            

Filter-maker CLARCOR moving to Jeffersonville, bringing 425 jobs by 2010

Official celebrate announcement at River Ridge

CLARCOR Inc. will close plants in Louisville and New Albany and consolidate its Air Filtration Products operations at Jeffersonville’s River Ridge Commerce Center.

Company officials, along with leaders from state and local government, made the announcement Thursday amid much fanfare.

The company will invest $8.5 million to lease and equip a 450,000-square-foot headquarters, manufacturing and distribution building being constructed at River Ridge.

The company plans to move into the building by early next year, said Norm Johnson, president and CEO. Plans are to employ 425 full-time workers by 2010.

The announcement was a jubilant one, with a ribbon-cutting, good-natured wisecracks about getting a new traffic light on U.S. 62 and free muffins setting the tone.

“In today’s economic times, there’s not too many companies talking about building facilities like this,” Johnson told a cadre of officials who’d gathered under a tent set up at the site.

He thanked Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Galligan and local economic development agency One Southern Indiana for their support in the move.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered CLARCOR about $3.59 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants because of the company’s job-creation plan. In the meantime, the company will be phasing in its property taxes through Jeffersonville’s Urban Enterprise Zone.

“We’re really proud to be doing business in this city,” Johnson said.

Talk had been that the company was planning on relocating out of the Louisville metropolitan area.

While acknowledging the role that the incentives package played, Johnson said retaining current employees was the No. 1 reason for the decision to stay.

“People who work hard in the factory every day are what really makes our business successful,” he said.

“That’s our song,” Daniels said, responding to Johnson’s comment about local workers.

“That’s the message that we take everywhere,” he said, boasting the strength of Indiana’s work force.

Galligan said the announcement was not just good for Jeffersonville, but the entire region, including those already employed by the company locally.

New Albany Mayor Doug England and Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson lost a few jobs in their communities, Galligan said.

However, he said, “the people get to stay in their own house and just travel a little further to work.

“It’s a win-win for the whole area, not just Jeffersonville,” he said.

CLARCOR manufactures air filters under the names Purolator, Airguard and ATI (Air Technologies).

The parent company’s headquarters is in Franklin, Tenn.

Galligan also remarked on the facility at River Ridge, the site of the old Indiana Army Ammunition Plant. He gave credit to Clark County Commissioners Ed Meyer and Ralph Guthrie as well as attorney Dan Moore in facilitating the reuse of the old plant.

River Ridge is home to 31 companies that collectively employ more than 2,000.

One Southern Indiana estimates that, including CLARCOR, it will contribute more than $150 million in annual payroll in Southern Indiana.



Just the Facts

• Tennessee-based CLARCOR plans to relocate its CLARCOR Air Filtration Products subsidiary to River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville.

• New Albany, Louisville plants to close

• 425 to be employed in Jeffersonville by 2010



About CLARCOR

• Manufactures: Air, oil and liquid filters

• Number of Employees: 5,160

• 2007 sales: $921.2 million

• 2007 earnings: $90.66 million

• New York Stock Exchange listing: CLC

        

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