Managers at Maremont Exhaust Products, a leading employer in the
city of Loudon for decades, told workers this morning that the
muffler-making facility will be closing in 30 days.
About 150 jobs will be eliminated in the closure, according to
Jim Kozar, vice president and general manager. The closing is
the result of a loss of business, Kozar said.
“We recently lost our largest customer,” he said.
Loudon city manager Lynn Mills said the city learned this
morning about the closing and was still trying to comprehend the
magnitude of the loss. Over the years Maremont provided work for
a lot of town residents, he said.
“They’ve been here since the ‘60s. We really hate to see an icon
like that close,” he said.
Kozar said the company will be working out a severance package.
The company has already reached out to local government agencies
to help the former employees in their transition.
The loss of Allied, a large auto parts distributor was the major
contributing factor in the closure, Kozar said. A competitor is
looking at purchasing some of the facilities but it is too early
to tell what the results of the discussions might yield, he
said.
Maremont has been located in its current location in Loudonsince
1969 and employed more than 400 as late as 2011, said Pat
Phillips, president of the Loudon County Economic Development
Agency. The last few years have seen a steady decline in the
number of workers at the company, he said.
Phillips said his office has begun working on a job fair to be
held at Maremont in the coming weeks. It’s hoped that Ceramica
DelConca, an Italian tile maker that will open a manufacturing
facility at Loudon’s Sugar Limb Industrial Park in January 2014,
will be able to hire some of the former Maremont workers, he
said.
“We’d like to get as many back to work as fast as possible,” he
said.
The EDA will try to market the Maremont building, which is
suited for heavy industrial manufacturing, he said.
Maremont entered the exhaust business in 1937 and by 1940 began
to apply mass production techniques to the manufacturing of
exhaust. The products are marketed through various channels of
distribution under the brand names of Maremont, Cherry Bomb and
various private labels.
In 2006 the company was purchased by Kenneth Banks. In 2007,
members of the International Machinists Local 2545 at the
Maremont plant voted to strike over pay and benefits. About
eight months later, the workers voted to dissolve the union.