Last week, a plastic container manufacturer in Plattsburgh announced the company was consolidating and closing its plant in Plattsburgh. Within hours of the announcement, IntraPac’s local managers say other manufacturers in the region “inundated” them with phone calls seeking to hire their workers.
The manufacturing focus in Clinton County is on transportation but there are other sectors including plastics, advanced 3D titanium, glass, crystal and more making and shipping products around the world.
IntraPac has made polypropylene jars and closures for use in health care and beauty products at a plant in Plattsburgh. On Sept. 12, General Manager Larry Brand told 90 employees that the local plant was being shuttered. “It was high stress. We have people that have been here for over 40 years so it’s emotional and it was uncomfortable for sure.”
Brand didn’t expect what happened within hours of the announcement. “The day that we made the announcement we started getting calls from local manufacturers. They were looking for our employees. We had probably a dozen different companies call and ask if it was all right to send in information, what type of people did we have available? Who are we holding onto and when would they be available? So we were inundated with phone calls that continued and it’s continued today. (What skill sets are they looking for?) Everything from production support to people to run production lines, mechanics, technical folks, engineers, injection molding experience. It seems to cover a broad spectrum.”
Human Resource Manager Cheryl Carte says she expected some companies to recruit their employees but did not expect them, as she puts it, to come “banging on their doors.” She notes: “They have openings that they’ve been trying to fill and to find out that we have long-term employees that have good reputations they’re anxious to grab them and get them to their facility before somebody else scoops them up. You know the first call was Thursday probably about 8:30 in the morning from Heidi Breton at Schluter’s saying we need people let’s work together. ETS has been very helpful and they’re wanting people. SSF Productions, Keurig/Dr. Pepper, Vapor Rail-Wabtec, Pactiv, Coryer Staffing they’re reaching out to us. So it’s going much better than I had ever dreamed.”
A key factor in the scramble to obtain the laid off workers, according to North Country Chamber of Commerce CEO Garry Douglas, is the low unemployment rate in Clinton County. "There are 50 plus other employers including other manufacturers here in the community who have jobs and are actually hungry for the kinds of skills that IntraPac employees have. It’s always a tough thing to get news that your employer can’t use your services any longer. But there are opportunities for transition. We’re at 3.8 percent unemployment and almost every manufacturer in this large manufacturing community is hungry for qualified applicants.”
IntraPac Plattsburgh is completing orders and will shut down over the next 45 days to consolidate operations in North Carolina.
