MOMENCE — Flanders Corporation announced this past week that on June 3, it will be permanently closing its Momence plant at 11360 E. Illinois Route 114.
The plant, which manufactures air filters for customers across the Midwest, will eliminate 112 positions as a result of the closing. Included in those lost jobs are 40 assemblers, 27 machine operators, eight each of line leads and maintenance mechanics, as well as three production supervisors and one warehouse supervisor.
The company said in a letter to Kankakee County Board Chairman Andy Wheeler that the closure is due to a “loss of business.”
A call was placed to the Flanders’ corporate office in Louisville, Ky., for comment, but the company has not yet responded.
Momence Mayor Chuck Steele said his office was also notified of the closure, but company officials have not been in contact with the city.
“They haven’t come to us for anything,” Steele said. “It’s got to be something business-wise. It’s not about Momence or the people who work there. It’s just trying to make it in this business world. It’s not easy.”
Steele is hopeful those affected by the closure can find jobs elsewhere in Momence.
“Just about every other business in town is looking for more employees,” he said.
In 2018, Flanders employed a workforce of 325, and it produced 110,000 furnace filters on a daily basis. The filters are available in such retail outlets as Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Walmart, and it also provides furnace, air and air conditioning filters to commercial accounts such as the supply company Grainger.
Previously known as Flanders-Precisionaire of Illinois, it was purchased by AAF [American Air Filter Co.] in April 2016. It’s one of 11 Flanders plants across the United States. The Momence site supplies furnace filters for the Midwest region of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
The Momence plant has 260,000 square feet under its roof.
“I hope that if the place gets sold, whoever buys it does well,” Steele said. “Or [Flanders’] business picks up, and they reopen it.”
Tim Nugent, president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County, said he has toured the Flanders plant before and said some of the employees live in Indiana, but several of them live in Momence and Kankakee County.
“We hate to see Flanders close down, especially with the number of people affected,” he said. “The good thing is there are jobs around there. The biggest thing is getting the right employer with the right people.”
Nugent said the Grundy Kankakee Livingston Workforce Board has been in touch with Flanders to try and help those employees find new jobs.
“The toughest thing is going to be for those workers to get out and work to find a new job,” he said. “… Our manufacturing base, there are still jobs available out there in a different location without having to drive outside the county.”