LEE-ROWAN: LAYOFFS SEASONAL, NOT PERMANENT

JACKSON -- The production of closet organizing systems, clothes hangars and other wire organizing equipment is a seasonal one. And this is not the season for peak production, said a Lee-Rowan Company spokesman Wednesday, explaining the reason for layoffs at the plant this week.

The company has layoffs every year, explained a spokesman for the company. Officials did not say how many employees were idled.

Company officials insist that the layoffs are not permanent, claiming that some of the layoffs will be for only a few days and others a little longer, depending on the job.

The latest layoffs have created some concern among employees at the plant, according to anonymous callers to the Southeast Missourian.

Some workers, company officials say, will return to work Monday.

The work force at the company, which includes a number of buildings in its Lee-Rowan Co. complex, has decreased over the past two years but is still near the 1,000 mark at 980.

Lee-Rowan's employment topped the 1,300 mark when the company closed its St. Louis manufacturing facility and sent all production equipment to the Jackson plant in 1994.

That move expanded the work force by 300 to 350 employees.

Lee Rowan has expanded the Jackson facility 11 times since it first opened in a 42,500-square- foot facility with 25 workers more than 30 years ago.

Plant expansion projects under taken were 100,000 square feet (largest of the 11) in 1990, 93,000 square feet in 1992, and 81,000 square feet in 1993.

Today, the plant has almost 640,000 square feet of space and 980 workers capable of operating three shifts a day during the busy season.

In 1993 Lee-Rowan's owner, Desmond Lee, announced the sale of the company to the Newell Group of Freeport, Ill. Newell manufactures and markets staple consumer products that are sold through a variety of retail and wholesale distribution channels. Product categories include hardware, housewares, office products and educational products.

Soon after purchasing Lee-Rowan, Newell purchased a site at Newbern, Tenn.

In 1994, the company discussed merging all operations into one facility at Jackson, St. Louis or Newbern.

The company selected Jackson.

Lee-Rowan was founded in 1939 by Edgar D. Lee and John V. Rowan in St. Louis. The company's first products were metal trouser creasers that were sold to Sears, Roebuck and Co. and JCPenney, which have been Lee-Rowan customers for 50 years.

During World War II, the firm was unable to obtain steel for the trouser creasers and started manufacturing arming wires for bombs. After the war, the company experimented with new products that eventually led to Storage Systems by Lee-Rowan.

Today, the firm offers not only the hangers but a complete line of ventilated storage products and an assortment of traditional closet accessories.

The company manufactures and distributes home organizational products in the United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia and the Caribbean basin.