Red Wing Shoe Co. has announced plans to close its Danville manufacturing facility. The closure is expected to take place in stages and will be complete by June 2010. The shutdown will affect 206 employees.
The Red Wing plant, which produces work boots, is yet another casualty of the nation’s widespread economic struggles: With the number of blue-collar jobs being on the downturn over the last couple of years, demand for work boots is down as well. As a result, Red Wing President Dave Murphy said the company’s plants have been operating at “less than ideal efficiency through reduced work weeks and occasional shut downs.”
Red Wing plans to move the Danville operations to its plants in Potosi, Mo., and Red Wing, Minn., which have been running at 60 to 70 percent capacity. Murphy said the additional work there will enable the company to restore 40-hour workweeks by early next year.
“The Danville facility has one building, whereas Red Wing and Potosi both have two,” Peter Engel, Red Wing’s head of corporate communications, told The (Danville) Advocate-Messenger. “It was really a question of capacity and capability. The other facilities allow us to maintain the same production and add production in the future.”
Red Wing has operated the Danville plant since 1994.
Add Comment