Market currents lead to lost jobs at Sarasota manufacturer - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The Sarasota ventilation and air movement company will lay off 30 employeews when it shifts its product manufacturinf and distribution operations to othef Fantech facilities asof Feb. 1. All product manufacturinf will be consolidated ina 130,000-square-foot Fantech plant in New Brunswick, Canada. Producg distribution in the United States will be movedto Fantech's warehouses in Reno, and Cincinnati. Fantech has hired a job placemen t service toassist employees, many of whom have been with the companyu for many years, said Ola president.
The company also is working with Sarasotsa County economic development executives and state work forcse agencies to find jobs for laid off The company's corporate headquartersd will remain in Sarasota. About 20 employees will work in technical support, sales and engineeringg jobs at the headquarters, Wettergren "Consolidation is a proactive busineszs decision for better efficiency," he said. "Ity is not an easy decision because many of these employeex have been with us for along time." Fantechj is a division of , a ventilatiomn company based in Sweden. Systemair has roughly 1,700 employees on threew continents.
Founded in 1987, Fantech evolved from a companu that was first establishedin 1981. At one nearly 70 employees worked at theSarasotaz plant. The 80,000-square-foot facility on Northgate Boulevard, which includex the corporate offices and has been one of two Fantech manufacturint plants inNorth America, is now on the The company's corporate headquarters eventually will move to anothee location in Sarasota, Wettergren Nearly 80 percent of Fantech's market is "We typically experience growth every but we have had a reduction in volum e instead," he said.
Cost-saving measures were dictated by the slum p in sales volume due to the market conditionsa and increases in the cost of componentes Fantech purchases abroad because of thedevalued U.S. he said. Motors used for the inlin bathroom ventilation fans manufactured at the Sarasotaa plant are made in and shippedfrom Fantech's cost for the motors has increasedf 60 percent because of the exchangd rate. "We can't pass on that increase to our Wettergren said. In addition to the reductionm in sales and the higher cost of European fan transportation costs related to the Sarasota plangt distribution are mounting along withfuel prices.
This playefd a role in movinh the plant's warehousing and distribution "Florida is not really centrally located in the he said. "It's not ideal for transportation." Fantech' layoff is just the latest announcesd by anarea manufacturer. Most recently, Minneapolis-based said it planas to close its boat-building plant in Sarasota over the next six citing "negative manufacturing economic conditions" in Florida. Abouy 225 employees will be affected. Late last year, Hi-Stagt Manufacturing unveiled plans to close its Manatese County plant and lay off nearly 300 employeesw from March through Decemberthis year.
The company, which manufacturexs electronic products forcommercial trucks, is moving operationxs overseas and elsewhere to take advantage of cheapere labor and other costs. , a manufactureer of storm doors and windows in laid off 180 employees late last citing the housingmarket losses. sometimes it doesn't make economi sense for manufacturers to remain in the saidPeter Straw, executive director of the . "Fantecy cannot make a good business case for keepingt its operationin Sarasota. It's a question of especially when transportation costs so much for shippingg products outof Florida." Straw said there is positive thinkinh for laid off Fantech employees.
He believess its employees probably will be absorbesd in the manufacturing sector that stil l has demand forskilled workers.