Published: September 6, 2016
Papers filled with orders and sketches were still lying around the production floor of Jasper Library Furniture on Friday, and the wooden squares and triangles were waiting to be polished.
However, for the most part, the seasonal work is starting to wind down.
Just a week after finishing the peak season, the workers said it had been one of their busiest yet. They credit the business’ new owner, LAIT LLC., and its passion for the library furniture business as one of the driving forces behind it.
LIAT is owned by husband and wife teams Brian and Cassie Lish and Fred and Jane Schutmaat.
The foursome managed the facility for Jasper Group until earlier this summer.
A few months ago, the Troutman and Taylorsville facilities’ future within its former parent company, Jasper Group, was in question. The Jasper, Ind.-based manufacturer was re-evaluating the cost-effectiveness of its nine plants.
The management team that oversaw the two plants decided to break out on their own, and within a five-week span closed on the library division on July 4, preventing 50 jobs from looking at the chopping block.
“We enjoy what we do,” said company president Brian Lish. “We are passionate about library furniture.”
Vice President Jane Schutmaat said the sale took about five weeks to complete, but the group believed in the division.
Production manager Tammy Morris remembered asking Brian Lish where the company was headed after the management team announced it was buying out Jasper.
She recalled him saying, “We are going straight to the top.”
So far, it feels like the company is on its way, Morris said. Business has been booming this year.
For the employees, the change is a welcome return to the tight-knit work environment they enjoyed when the business was known as Blanton & Moore.
“Now we don’t have to mess with the Indiana part,” said woodworker Randy Conaway. “If you need something, you don’t have to wait.”
Engineer Denise Wooten said Jasper Group did a lot for the facility when it purchased the plant from Blanton & Moore in August 2014. The manufacturer updated the software, computer systems and some of the production lines.
But personally, Wooten likes the family-oriented feeling that comes with being locally owned instead of being a part of a corporation.
“This is the best group I’ve every worked with,” she said. “They just fit right in. It’s like they’ve always been here.”
Blanton & Moore opened the North Main Street building as a mill work facility in 1946.
Brian Lish and Jane Schutmaat said that with ownership of the business came a realization that they are responsible for the company’s successes and failures.
“We are fortunate to have a seasoned staff,” Brian Lish said.
A lot of business-related functions had to change, such as e-mail, the T1 line and the phone system. The company is in the middle of updating its marketing material.
Brian Lish said the company has also worked on some cosmetic changes to the building.
Jane Schutmaat said the group is developing a partnership with Mitchell Community College to provide CNC training and documentation optimization on the manufacturing floor.
“I think it’s going to help the company in the long run,” Wooten said. “It was the right people at the right time.”
Source : http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/
