Aluminum caster to bring in about 15 Allenton jobs

RACINE - Premier Aluminum, which recently added more square footage, will close its Allenton facility and move that operation here.

The Olsen Industrial Park company, at 3633 S. Memorial Drive, manufactures aluminum castings for the food service industry and electric utilities.

A secondary product category is parts for circuit breakers, transformers and other electrical components used by electric utilities. Premier specializes in the production of component parts from 1 to 100 pounds.

A privately held subsidiary of Birmingham, Ala.-based Ligon Industries, Premier Aluminum recently more than doubled its facility here, adding 51,000 square feet to the previous 40,000.

It employs about 60 people here and will bring in about 15 more from Allenton, said Bob Haebig, who retired as president in January and is now a company consultant.

"We can no longer sustain, financially, operations at both places," Haebig said Monday. The Racine plant has plenty of capacity to absorb the Allenton operation, he said.

The transfer of work here should begin by late February and be finished in June, he said.

Haebig said all of the employees in Allenton - which is about six miles west of West Bend - are being offered transfers to Racine. However, he didn't know how many would accept or stay for the long-term; that plant is a 70-minute drive from this one.

"I'm sure there will be some attrition, and some may not go at all," he said.

Haebig said in late October 2008 that Premier Aluminum was growing by 10 percent annually and was then at about $20 million in annual revenue. It had 96 total employees then.

But that was before the recession reduced its business. This year, Haebig estimated that Premier Aluminum will amass about $18 million in revenue.

He expects employment to hold steady at about 75 people this year.

For more information visit http://www.premieraluminum.com.