More than 200 jobs will move from Washington County as a plastic injection-molding firm plans to close its factory at Kalona. Chief Financial Officer Charles Brown says Victor Plastics has always done custom work for clients, making parts for everything from electronics to RV’s.
Most of their work for Whirlpool, Brown says, has been plastic parts for the Amana plant — crisper drawers and "pretty much any of the plastic parts inside a refrigerator." "It’s just a business decision we made as a company," Brown says. When Whirlpool bought Maytag last year he says they entered a one-year agreement with the new owner but now have decided to terminate that relationship.
Victor’s offices are in North Liberty, and 209 employees work at the plant in Kalona that’s slated for closing. Those jobs may not completely leave Iowa, however. The company also has manufacturing facilities in the town of Victor and in North English, as well as one in Flora, Mississippi. Brown says they’ll try to place many workers from the Kalona factory at the other Iowa facilities. He couldn’t say how many employees might find new jobs at the company’s other factories.
Brown says Whirlpool wasn’t the only client who got custom injection molding done at the plant in northern Washington County. Other customers who got products made at the Kalona plant will still get their manufacturing jobs done at the company’s other plants. Brown says probably not all but most of the work that had been done at Kalona will be transferred to the North Liberty plant.