Jeff Kenney, Culver Citizen
The Culver manufacturing plant Elkay (also known as Medallion) plans to add some 100 local jobs over the next four years, as well as a significant capital investment of new machinery and equipment, with the assistance of a tax abatement from the town of Culver.
The Culver town council, at its June 24 meeting, voted to declare the Elkay property an economic revitalization area as part of its recently-completed tax abatement policy, following discussion of the Elkay plan.
Jerry Chavez, executive director of the Marshall County Economic Development Corp., introduced the discussion and noted that the process of choosing which of Elkay's several plants nationwide would expand was "very competitive." He also noted the property had been designated a redevelopment area back in 2005, and he added the company had already invested around $8.5 million in its Culver plant in the past few years with no tax abatement.
Plant manager Rick Coffman, explaining he'd been at Culver's Elkay plant for nearly three years, said Elkay has plants in US locales as far-flung as Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, and Virginia, and that some of the upcoming work could go to multiple plants, "but we would like to keep it here in Culver."
Elkay's plant has been on West Jefferson Street for more than eight years now, Coffman said, adding, "I want to see Culver in business forever."
Much of the $1.5 million investment the company is about to make here is in new equipment, explained Coffman, and the company will likely retrain some of its employees for the expanded work load.
Elkay Cabinetry is home to seven brands, including the popular Schuller brand sold nationwide at Lowe's. Coffman pointed out the Culver factory is the exclusive maker of the frameless cabinets sold via the Home Depot retail chain, though many Elkay-made cabinets travel to Sears and Menard's as well.
"This is a big to-do," he said. "It's very important to us. We're the fourth largest cabinet company in the US, and we make cabinetry for the entire house; not just the kitchen."
The plant also makes trims and moldings, and its output is semi-custom to "almost custom," and is made to order, Coffman noted.
He also said the plant went to a split shift this past April to reduce overtime, and hopes to transition to an actual second shift in the near future, though that process would be gradual.
The plant currently employs 320 people, and its goal is to increase that number by 25 each year until 100 more are attained, though Coffman said that estimate is "conservative" and may be higher.