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Customers in place, Maumee plant buyer says(Blade, The (Toledo, OH) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 30--The man trying to reopen Ford Motor Co.'s former Maumee Stamping Plant as an employee-owned operation said yesterday that he has letters of intent for tens of millions of dollars in business, if he can get the keys to the plant. Keith Obey said yesterday that, if and when financing guarantees come through from the state, the three Detroit automakers initially will make up the bulk of work for more than 250 employees at Maumee Authority Stamping Inc. to make metal and plastic stamped parts. "We still have a customer base that has waited very patiently for me to be able to manufacture," Mr. Obey said. "They feel very, very comfortable with sending tooling to us when we're ready because of our ability to save customers money in terms of transportation and manufacturing costs." Mr. Obey applied in mid-April for a $5 million loan from the Ohio Department of Development and "at least" $3.5 million in bonds backed by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority to finance most of the purchase of the 800,000-square-foot plant. He is waiting for state development officials to approve the financing in order to finalize his purchase of the plant for an undisclosed price. Another portion of the purchase is to be financed by employee/shareholders, who agreed to pay $16,000 each for at least one share of the company and a job at the plant. Ford's former stamping plant once employed 1,200 people, each making about $25 an hour manufacturing metal components like bumpers and body panels for a variety of Ford-made automobiles beginning in 1974. Mr. Obey said yesterday that he isn't trying to push the state into backing his plan, even though he said this week that the project was in jeopardy if it didn't close by June 30. He just wants "to give them a gentle nudge" so that the plant can reopen. "Lt. Gov. [Lee] Fisher and Mark Barbash are working extremely hard to make this possible," Mr. Obey said. Mr. Fisher serves as director of the Ohio Department of Development and Mr. Barbash is the agency's chief economic development officer. "The delay has to be backed with some reassurance that this is going to transact," Mr. Obey said. "I would bet we would be able to work with Ford. I'm just saying we have a better chance of closing on 7/15 if we can go to Ford on 6/15 with a commitment from the state." The state development agency has not received a report from a consultant it hired to investigate the project's financial viability, a state spokesman said. The consultant is affiliated with Kent State University's Ohio Employee Ownership Center. Mr. Obey said his customers have been attracted to his plant because of its costs and location. Wages there will initially be $14 an hour. "The [auto] business still needs stamping manufacturing facilities, especially that are just down the street from Jeep, and our labor rates can rival those of the Chinese or Vietnamese," he said. Manufacturing can start quickly, he said, because employees would be former Ford workers returning to machines they already know. Tooling and raw materials will be taken by customers from their current manufacturers and "can be on a truck to Maumee within 12 hours of closing" on the purchase, he said. When he first began recruiting investors and employees months ago, Mr. Obey said he hoped to finalize the purchase by the middle of May. That didn't happen, he said, because of delays involved in acquiring the state and locally backed government loans and bonds. "The longer it takes for us to get the keys, the longer it takes for our customers to gain profitability," Mr. Obey said. Contact Larry P. Vellequette at: [email protected] or 419-724-6091. To see more of The Blade, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.toledoblade.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |