RANTOUL — An additional 200 jobs will be added to Rantoul’s Jeld-Wen window and door manufacturing plant as a result of the closure of a Wisconsin facility and their movement to Champaign County.
Caryn Klebba, head of global public relations for the company, said the company expects “the vast majority of the consolidation to be done by the end of August.”
The company announced last week it would be closing its Hawkins, Wis., wood window plant, which employs 340 people.
Klebba said the Rantoul facility has “the capacity to add more lines, and our Hawkins facility does not.”
“We have identified a lot of redundancies. They’re both wood window facilities. Neither has been operating at full capacity for some time, so the decision was made to consolidate wood window production into one facility.”
Klebba said Rantoul also has a larger available workforce, “whereas the Hawkins facility we would struggle to hire the number we need to support the consolidated production.”
She said employees at the Wisconsin facility are welcome to apply for employment at the Rantoul factory.
Starting employees will be paid $21.50 an hour.
The company has also been in contact with other Hawkins-area employers to let them know of the availability of the Jeld-Wen workers.
According to Klebba, multiple market factors are in play — the higher costs of business freight, raw materials and labor and lower volume.
“All of those contribute to the changes that are necessary,” she said.
“This is all part of the Jeld-Wen transformation journey to simplify and modernize our facility and also continue to meet our customers’ needs,” Klebba said.
Plant manager Justin Thompson said the mood at the Rantoul plant “I would say is positive about embracing the opportunity but also very aware of what’s going on with the company.”
Among the tasks to get ready for the changeover is the move of equipment and material from Wisconsin to Rantoul.
Thompson said to be added at the Rantoul site will be “a multitude of production jobs as well as quality, maintenance, receiving and shipping” positions.
“We’ll have some additional equipment” shipped to Rantoul, “and a majority of the equipment we already have.
“At the end of five months we’re anticipating to be fully ramped up.”
Caradco opened the Rantoul plant in 1976. Jeld-Wen bought the facility in 1997.
Norco built the original Hawkins plant, which was purchased by Jeld-Wen in 1996.
