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Hernando Today

Local Factories Still Coping

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: March 13, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - One local manufacturing company has laid off 75 percent of its work force.

Most of the rest have instituted wage freezes and are contemplating unpaid leave for those workers who man their assembly lines.

Some owners are brainstorming to come up with creative ways to save money. Their outlook keeps getting bleaker by the month, though, as they run their day-to-day operations in a county that has seen its unemployment rate surge to its highest levels in more than three decades.

Business owners are frightened to guess how much worse it might get.

"Anything is possible at this point," said Barbara Manzi, president of Manzi Metals Inc., located at the Airport Industrial Park. "If I could offer one week's vacation without pay and every single one took it, I'd be willing to try that."

She, like dozens more of her neighbors up and down Flight Plan Drive - the main drag that cuts through the industrial park - already have instituted wage freezes for the year.

"It's a sad situation," Manzi said.

The company is a distributor that specializes in stainless steel, aluminum, copper and various other metals.

Manzi pointed toward her phone and said it barely rings during the day. She waved her hands over her desk in a circular motion to show how clean it was. In past years, her face would be hidden behind stacks of paperwork.

"We went through the (1992) recession while we were a new business and we were like, 'Wow, we're doing OK,'" Manzi said. "This is like nothing I've seen."

Donald Silvernell, the director of the park, saw the writing on the wall last year when the recession was taking shape. Construction companies had already begun closing, consolidating or moving out.

He asked county commissioners to keep the leases at the same level throughout 2009 and they obliged. He received a number of thank you letters from business owners, he said.

"We're trying to help the smaller organizations here," he said. "Some of these folks were appreciative of that."

Carl Sunden is the president of Monitor Products Inc., a company that manufactures heat exchangers and cooling systems for boats.

Last summer's soaring fuel costs made owning boats less desirable, even among the upper class. Business started lagging. The ensuing credit crisis has crippled the company.
Sunden had to eliminate most of his 60-member workforce. He is now down to about 15 full-time employees.

"There's not a lot you can do," he said. "We just don't have enough deep pockets to keep people if the industry goes down."
Sunden can't be faulted for not trying. Last fall, he made employees work a four-day week. On top of that, he was forced to further cut back on payroll. Those who still work there are making 20 percent less than they did a year ago, he said.

"No one needs to buy a pleasure boat today," he said. "That's what is hurting us."
Sunden is trying to pursue new markets and diversify his business. The rest of his strategy is mostly holding on and waiting out the worst recession he has ever seen.

Some of the companies at the airport park joined the newly formed Hernando County Industrial Association. The group meets every so often to discuss ways to help each other.

Their first big idea was to leverage their buying power. If two or more companies need some of the same supplies, they will try to work out a method to curb some of the costs.

"If one company needs to buy aluminum, then another company can piggy back on that contract," said Valarie Pianta, a spokeswoman with the Hernando County Office of Business Development.

Some companies have been up and down during the recession. Accuform, a local manufacturer of safety signs, laid off 10 workers after consecutive below-average months.

The company rebounded in March and hired four more people. Its workforce is just below 240 and owner Dave Johnson is hoping to add more in the coming months.

The company's recent numbers have bolstered spirits at the plant. Johnson already is contemplating waiving the ongoing wage freeze.

"That little stumble we had earlier in the year seems to have already cleared," he said.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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