STEADY GROWTH KEEPS LEE-ROWAN LOOKING FOR NEW EMPLOYEES

JACKSON -- The roar of heavy machinery rarely stops at Lee-Rowan. Open 24 hours a day, usually six days a week, the factory employs 1,390 people on three shifts.

It's not enough.

In its 57th year of business, the company produces home organizing equipment, including ventilated wire shelving, garment racks, recycling bins and CD holders. Its customers include Wal-Mart, Kmart, Home Depot and other huge department stores.

As those chains grow, so does demand for Lee-Rowan's products. The company normally uses the three months after Christmas to build inventory, but not this year. Employees struggle to keep up with demand.

In 1993, owner Desmond Lee opted to sell his company to the Newell Group of Freeport, Ill. The new owners promptly closed Lee-Rowan's St. Louis factory, leaving only the sales and marketing departments in the city. All the equipment was sent to Jackson, but most St. Louis employees decided not to accept jobs here.

The change created an immediate need for 100 employees, but personnel manager Steve Johnston said the search is never ending.

"We're running into the same problem as the other factories in Cape Girardeau County -- it's hard to find people to work," he said. "The unemployment figures are good for the workers, but bad for the factories. We reach into the surrounding counties to hire people."

Personnel assistant Clare Urhahn launched an advertising campaign in early January, placing ads in all area newspapers, no matter what the circulation.

It worked. Soon after the ads ran, applicants lined the hallways of Lee-Rowan's office. Urhahn and Johnston worked day and night interviewing them, and said several people left other higher-paying jobs for better benefit packages, including medical and dental insurance and a retirement plan.

Urhahn said the company would continue to accept applications all year.

Lee-Rowan recently saw physical growth, too.

The factory covers 18 acres, but had a severe shortage of parking space and could go only so far on its limited amount of land. Jackson Mayor Paul Sander and other city officials spoke with landowner Byron Lang about purchasing an option for 16 acres to the east of the factory, just across a small stream.

Lang sold the option for $2,000 a year, and the Jackson Board of Aldermen exercised it almost immediately, purchasing 2.2 acres for a new parking lot. The city will lease the property to Lee-Rowan, paying for gravel and lighting for 150 parking spaces. Lee-Rowan will build a footbridge to the factory.

The city's option on the 16 acres runs out in 13 years.

"Now we know we have that property available whenever we want it and in whatever increments we want it," Sander said. "This parking lot is a very minimal investment when you keep so many jobs in the community. Many communities our size have lost large plants, and the economic impact has been devastating."

The additional land may be used for other industries or for more Lee-Rowan expansion, Sander said.