Elk Grove, Wheeling manufacturers brace for layoffs

Three manufacturers in Elk Grove Village and Wheeling plan to close plants and lay off about 360 workers in coming months due to the recession or other streamlining.

Owens & Minor Distribution Inc., a medical supply and distribution company in Wheeling; Singapore-based Flextronics International with operations in Elk Grove Village; and Plastag Corp, a maker of plastic cards in Elk Grove Village, are all streamlining operations, according to documents filed with the state.

"Layoffs are across the spectrum," said Greg Baise, chief executive director of the Oak Brook-based Illinois Manufacturers' Association. "Consumers just aren't buying products like they were."

These manufacturers also produce a variety of products not associated with some of the hardest hit, such as the auto or steel industries.

Richmond, Va.-based Owens & Minor, a medical and surgical supply distributor, had acquired The Burrows Co. in Wheeling last October. It has decided to close the plants at 230 W. Palatine Road and 301 Holbrook Drive and eliminate 125 positions by late April. Some workers may be offered positions at other locations, including a distribution center in Hanover Park, which will remain operating, said company spokeswoman Trudi Allcott.

Also, Plastag Corp., a 76-year-old maker of plastic gift cards, casino cards, prepaid phone cards and driver's licenses, aims to close operations as 1800 Greenleaf in Elk Grove Village by late April and eliminate 121 positions.

Parent company Premier Card Solutions told workers in February that the plant would close completely by year end. Manufacturing then will be done at the company's Roseville, Minn., plant, said spokeswoman Lynn Weiss.

A Flextronics spokeswoman was unavailable, but state documents said the company aims to close operations at 1150 Lively Blvd. and 1065 Chase Ave. in Elk Grove Village by May and eliminate 113 positions.

While the state has lost several manufacturing jobs in recent years, it's not all grim. At a recent Coalition for Manufacturers meeting, only eight of 60 attending companies said that they were struggling, said Mary Rose Hennessy, executive director of Business and Industry Services at the University of Illinois Extension in Naperville.

"Well-managed companies were prepared for this downturn and they positioned themselves by managing their cash," Hennessy said. "They are not overleveraged and they don't have mountains of inventory sitting on shelves. Healthy balance sheets will pull them through without layoffs. Darwin's theory will prevail: the strong will survive with greater market share."