The Beloit Chronicles - Part 5
April 1 to June 1, 2000 - the last chapter
This is part five in a six part series that chronicles
the events that led to the closing of Beloit CorporationThis information was compiled from various news sources including, but not limited to newspapers such as, The Beloit Daily News, The Rockford Register Star, The Janesville Gazette, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Capital Times of Madison, WI, financial magazines and publications, Internet news and financial sites and personal e-mail contributions. All information is factual as published without personal commentary or judgment.
April 4, 2000 - Valmet offers 200 jobs
"Its a show of good faith,'' Valmet Vice President of Marketing Glenn Ostle said the workers will be on the company's payroll beginning April 10, and will remain on the payroll contingent on the Department of Justice's approval of Valmet's purchase of Beloit Corp. assets. "We decided that we just did not want to lose any more good people. We also did not want to see our future colleagues without jobs. As a result, we made the decision to make these offers of employment. Now we just have to wait to see how many are accepted,'' said Hannu Melarti, president, Valmet North America. Valmet is looking to employ more than 300 workers overall in the after-sales service area in Beloit.
April 8, 2000 - Last of Beloit workers to leave Beloit Offices
Bob Dangremond, Chief Restructuring Office for Harnischfeger Industries, called today ``an important date'' for those currently on Beloit Corp.'s payroll. Most of those still employed with Beloit Corp. had April 7 as their final date on their Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification (WARN) notices, which they received earlier this year. Dangremond said Harnischfeger intends to let most of those employees go at the end of today.``This is all part of the eventual divestiture of Beloit Corp.,'' Dangremond said. Not knowing exactly how many people remain on Beloit Corp.'s payroll, Dangremond said he was unsure how many would remain, if any, at the company after today. Those working until today helped clean out the buildings, including breaking down machinery and shutting down computer systems.
April 11, 2000 - Valmet welcomes new Beloit employeesI
After months of anticipation, about 85 workers signed on with Valmet and were placed on the payroll Monday, securing jobs for themselves in what will be Valmet's new service center. When the hiring is done, Valmet hopes to have 300 workers in Beloit. The group sat and listened to Valmet officials Hannu Melarti and Lennart Vihma, to learn what Valmet expects of its newest workers. Melarti put on a Valmet hat that said ``Welcome to Valmet'' bringing a cheer from the crowd.
April 17, 2000 - Paperchine LLC and Valmet looking at same buildingWith the closing of Beloit, South Beloit building sare in high demand as two competing companies bid for same building. Officials at both the newly formed Paperchine LLC and international business giant Valmet named the former Gardner Machine facility, 481 Gardner St., as a prime facility for their businesses. Laurie Wicks, president of Paperchine. Paperchine which now has 45 permanent employees could use 22,500 square feet of the roughly 70,000 square foot facility. Valmet's Glenn Ostle they are looking at the Gardner site and could use the whole 70,000 square feet.``All I know is they're looking at the same building,'' Wicks said. Paperchine has since issued an offer on another building in the area. `I had no other choice because Gardner's preference was to rent the whole building,'' Wicks said, adding the Gardner
Machine structure is now Paperchine's second choice.
April 17, 2000 - Valmet comments on Beloit failure``I don't know if it would be proper for me,'' said Juhani Pakkala, president of Valmet Corp., which is waiting U.S. Justice Department approval of its bid to acquire Beloit, to say why I think Harnischfeger wound up in bankruptcy court. ``Somehow they were running out of steam the last 10 years,'' he said, ``and they have lost market share.'' 20 years ago, Beloit was tops among about 20 major companies worldwide assembling machines for the paper-making industry. By comparison, Valmet ranked fifth. Now it is number one among three remaining companies and hoping to get Beloit's assets. ``I think that Beloit has been a very good company for the pulp and paper industry and has had a lot of innovations and ideas,'' Pakkala, 55, said in Jyvaskyla, Finland, during an interview.
April 19, 2000 - U.S. Department of Justice OKs Beloit saleIn a statement released today, Harnischfeger said the U.S. Department of Justice has approved the sale of Beloit Corporation's paper machine aftermarket and roll cover divisions to Valmet for $167 million, effective today. They further reported the DOJ did not request modification to the proposed transaction, allowing the sale to be completed as intended. Transfer to Valmet should take place in early May. The transaction includes the aftermarket division as well as paper machine technology, including patents, but not Beloit Corp. manufacturing. ``We are delighted that our bid has been approved,'' said Valmet Vice President of Marketing Glenn Ostle. ``Once the transaction has been closed, we look forward to integrating these people and businesses into the Valmet family.'' Valmet plans to retain about 300 jobs in the Stateline Area. Valmet recently hired 85 former Beloit workers.
April 20, 2000 - Beloit buildings in Beloit and Rockton sold
Frank Giuffre, president of Milwaukee-based Mallory Properties, announced Wednesday his company has purchased Beloit Corp.'s real estate assets in Beloit and Rockton for an undisclosed price. The transaction was confirmed Wednesday in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. This follows an announcement Wednesday morning that the Justice Department was allowing Valmet to complete its purchase of Beloit Corp. assets. `We are excited about this acquisition and hope it means keeping jobs in the area,'' Giuffre said. ``We hope Valmet willstay, but if not, we will bring in other companies who will do local hiring.'' Valmet has a 14-month lease option on part of Beloit Corp.'s complex in Beloit no matter who owns the property.
April 27, 2000 - Wisconsin unemployment rate up\
Wisconsin's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate saw its biggest jump in almost two years in March. But the increase to 3.1 percent, up slightly from a 40-year low of 2.8 percent in February, is nothing to worry about, state officials said Wednesday. It was the biggest increase in the seasonally adjusted rate since July 1998. But the rate, which translates as 90,000 unemployed residents, was the same in March 1999. Unemployment rates in the state's 11 metropolitan areas for March ranged from a seasonally-adjusted low of 1.4 percent in the Madison area to a high of 4.4 percent in the Janesville-Beloit region
April 28, 2000 - Valmet may locate outside of city
``We've been looking all over the area very closely,'' Dan Jankowski, Valmet Vice President of Service, North America, said. Jankowski is looking for a location for a 300 employee after-market shop to service Beloit Corp. and Valmet paper making machinery in the area. So far, about 75 workers have signed up.`` A lot of the possibilities we've looked at have fallen through,'' he admitted. Valmet may be forced to divide its Beloit work force into different locations. Saying the company ``has all options on the table,'' Jankowski said Valmet has a lease for every group of its Beloit workers except one. He hopes to have that lease signed on Monday, and will announce then where in the area it is going to locate.
April 29, 2000 - Paperchine finds a homePaperchine President Laurie Wicks said he signed a lease for the former Quality Diagnostics building in the South Beloit Industrial Park Thursday. `We did get our building _ signed our lease,'' Wicks said. Workers are setting up some equipment while the company expects to move in within several weeks, after phones, carpet and office furniture are installed. The building includes 15,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 7,000 square feet of office
space.May 2, 2000 - Valmet settles for Loves Park
Dan Jankowski, Valmet Vice President of Services, North America, confirmed this morning Valmet has leased manufacturing space in Loves Park. Up to 20 workers will be part of the after market production area being moved. ``This is a small part of our after market services,'' Jankowski said.
``Finally,'' said Valmet Marketing Vice President Glenn Ostle. ``We're now in operation...It's been a long ordeal. Longer than we anticipated.'' The deal which marks the end of Beloit Corp. was finalized at noon Thursday, Ostle said. While the Finnish Valmet has sent workers to Beloit Corp. customers for machine maintenance, the last details of the purchase allow Beloit Corp.'s former competitor to contend with repairs that include engineering and small-scale parts manufacturing.
May 12, 2000 - Beloit sale final
May 24, 2000 - Beloit owes workers severance payState officials said Wednesday that the former Beloit Corp. owes about 200 of its ex-employees $3.6 million in severance pay, but the company is challenging the finding. In a letter dated May 4, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development asks Harnischfeger Industries Inc., the former parent of Beloit Corp., to pay the workers what they are owed. Lawyers for Beloit Corp. responded by asking that the case be reviewed, saying the company believes the ruling is wrong because the company had amended its severance pay policy last November. Chris Marschman, a spokesman for the state agency, said about 270 former Beloit Corp. employees filed complaints with the state, saying they had lost severance pay when Beloit laid them off during the past 12 months. The agency found about 200 complaints it deemed valid, for amounts ranging from $1,800 up to nearly $227,000. The average benefit would be about $18,000, according to state figures.
Proceed to Part 6 of the Beloit Chronicles
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