Company that bought former Vise

Employees work at Malco Products in DeWitt in 2019. The company has announced plans to stop making its Eagle Grip locking pliers, which are made in DeWitt.

The future of the former Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt is up in the air again just a few years after it reopened.

Malco Products, which bought the plant in 2017 and reopened it in 2019 to make Eagle Grip locking pliers, a product similar to Vise-Grip, announced this week that it plans to exit that business early next year after fulfilling all current customer orders.

"For the past five years, our teams in both Annandale and DeWitt have been working tirelessly to bring this vision to life and to make it a success. This has included a significant investment in both time and in capital resources," said Rich Benninghoff, president and CEO of the Minnesota-based company. "Despite all of these efforts, the reality is that this platform doesn't align with our core focus, so we’ve made the difficult decision to exit the locking handle tools business."

Benninghoff said the company "is engaged in discussions with industry partners and potential buyers and will communicate further details as they become available."

However, he said it plans to wind down operations by the end of the year, and if no buyer is found by then, the 63 employees who work there will lose their jobs.

"If a sale does not occur, we anticipate position eliminations may begin on Dec. 31," Benninghoff said. "Some positions will remain active beyond that date, depending on operational need."

He said Malco's human resources team has met with all employees, and the company will be offering all employees a severance package even if operations continue under new ownership.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice sent to the state Department of Labor, the company plans to offer three employees the opportunity to transfer to its Minnesota plant, while the others will face layoffs starting Dec. 31.

This is the second time DeWitt has faced closure of the plant.

In 2008, Newell Rubbermaid, which owned the plant at the time, decided to outsource production of Vise-Grips to China. That decision cost about 330 people their jobs and ended an 86-year history of the iconic locking pliers being manufactured in the tiny Saline County town of about 500 people, where they were invented.

Malco applied for and received state tax incentives in when it bought the plant in 2017, and based on the requirements — which requires companies in most instances to meet employment targets for at least six years — it's possible the company might have to pay some of the incentive money back.

Moria Holly, DeWitt's village clerk and treasurer, declined comment. Saline County officials could not be reached for comment.

Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or [email protected].

On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.

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Business reporter

Matt Olberding is a Lincoln native and University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate who has been covering business for the Journal Star since 2005.

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