KITCHENER — A Kitchener office furniture products plant has been sold by one U.S.-based owner to another.

CompX Waterloo, formerly Waterloo Furniture Products, has been acquired by Knape & Vogt of Grand Rapids, Mich., from CompX International Inc. of Dallas, Texas, for $59 million.

The sale also included CompX’s Dynaslide division in Taiwan.

Together, the two plants make up the company’s furniture components division and had sales of $46.4 million for the nine-month period ending Sept. 30, CompX said in a news release.

The CompX Waterloo plant, located in a 300,000-square-foot plant at 501 Manitou Dr., makes ball-bearing sliders for office furniture and appliances, and ergonomic workstation products such as adjustable keyboard platforms.

The acquisition will give Knape & Vogt “access to new customers and markets and an expanded presence” in channels serving office equipment manufacturers, Peter Martin, the company’s chief executive officer, said in a news release.

CompX Waterloo employs about 300 people, including 200 unionized workers, said Ewan Graham, vice-president of United Steelworkers Local 7155 at the plant.

Workers first heard of the sale Wednesday and had a meeting with the new management on Thursday, he said.

It’s too early to tell if there will be many changes at the plant, Graham said Friday. “They’re going to look at some of our processes … They know our products because they’re our competitors.”

Graham said workers were surprised and concerned about the ownership change because employment has fallen from a high of about 1,000 people 10 years ago.

Several years ago, the company implemented a two-tier wage structure and a temporary work-sharing program.

But recently business “has been strong in some areas,” and CompX shifted work from its Michigan plant to Kitchener two years ago, Graham said.

About one-third of employees have been with the company for more than 25 years, said Graham, whose tenure stretches over 31 years. “We have an aging workforce,” he said. “A lot of people want to stay until they retire.”

The company started in the mid-1950s as Waterloo Metal Stampings.
 

Source: The record.com

Posted and edited by Riona, Hanbao News Department

Contact: rionach@cltimber.com