Merillat lays off 24 in Rapid City

Move due to 'market conditions,' spokeswoman says.

By Jeremy Fugleberg, Journal staff | Saturday, November 15, 2008

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Chris Ramsdell heard the layoff rumors, but then word came they were true.

The raw materials operator was one of 24 workers who lost their jobs at the Merillat cabinet factory in Rapid City this week. The layoffs reduced the work force to 173 at the plant, which is facing its second round of cuts this year.

Ramsdell, a married man who bought a house last year, is likely headed to Wyoming to look for work in the coal fields.

"Still have to find a job and pay the bills," he said.

The market slowdown is hammering Michigan-based Masco Builder Cabinet Group, to which Merillat belongs, according to Susan Cross, Masco spokeswoman. With home construction plummeting, the market has shrunk for cabinetry, including the particle board cabinets manufactured at the Rapid City plant.

"The layoffs are attributed 100 percent to current market conditions," Cross said. "These kinds of decisions are never easy for us to make, and we really look forward to positive changes in the marketplace soon."

Buffeted by a 65 percent drop in new home starts since the boom years of 2005 and 2006, the cabinet company is in the midst of drastic cuts.

"We have had layoffs throughout the organization, up and down," Cross said.

Masco President Karen Strauss in a September memo told employees, "We find ourselves faced with difficult decisions," she said.

Those decisions included idling one plant, consolidating some facilities and retooling other plants. Merillat's original factory in Adrian, Mich., will close in 2009, and the 330 workers there will lose their jobs.

Ramsdell, a seven-year veteran, lost his job at the Rapid City plant in the February cut but came back when he was asked. Now, he's out of work again.

"There were rumors going around, but we didn't know," he said. "They don't tell us something like that until there are layoffs."

Contact Jeremy Fugleberg at 394-8421 or jeremy.fugleberg@rapidcityjournal.com