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Boonville plant to close in 2015

250 jobs will be eliminated at the NORDYNE Plant in Boonville, Missouri in the beginning of 2015.
The plant, that produces air and heating products, will start closing doors in January, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification.

NORDYNE announced in 2013 that they would gradually close down plants in Missouri and move the manufacturing businesses to Saltillo, Mexico.

Jim Gann, director of business engagement at the University of Missouri and an economic developer in the city of Boonville says it has been a trend for years now that Midwestern companies offshore their manufacturing businesses.

Jim Gann admits the lost jobs will have an impact on Boonville, but they have had time to make plans for new growth.

“Within the county we have about 8500 jobs. Certainly 250 are not insignificant in that regard and it is a 100 percent significant if you are one of the affected employees, certainly. So what we try to do as a community is to put in place programs and there will be more to come on this,” he says.   

Kari Pulatis, communication manager at NORDYNE, told KBIA in an email that their decision to move production is absolutely no reflection on the quality of the workforce in Boonville - it's the result of a shrinking HVAC industry and a need to remain competitive.

A plant in Poplar Bluff, Missouri will also close down.

Kari Pulatis states that they announced the closures in early 2013, so that employees would have as much notice as possible. 

Jim Gann agrees they have had time to cope with the situation. 

“What we try to do is to be proactive and give the affected workers a pathway where they can retrain themselves for other jobs that are available and will be available in the future,”  he says.  

NORDYNE will still have an operation plant left in Tennessee.   

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