Ongoing financial trouble, including skyrocketing resin prices, is propelling custom blow molder Falcon Plastics Inc. to shut down its sole plant - a 591,000-square-foot site in Washington, Pa.
The company, which employs about 125, already has begun to wind down operations.
Falcon officials are in the market for a buyer or lessee - a move they hope will minimize job loss.
``We're probably looking at a 60-day window,'' said Tom Smith, Falcon's chief operating officer. ``Over the past four or five months, I've contacted, conservatively, 750 plastics companies. We've probably had eight come in.
``There's still a couple players out there that may still come to the party.''
The plant has rail access and is within a couple miles of two major interstates, Smith said.
``From a financial perspective, it would be wonderful if someone could come in there and take the whole thing out,'' he said. ``Another business could come in here and pretty much go turnkey.''
In a news release, company officials cited overseas competition, raw material supply problems due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and missed business opportunities as the impetus for closing their doors. Specifically, Falcon officials mentioned failed efforts to partner with Newell Rubbermaid Inc. - a plastics housewares giant that has had financial troubles of its own.
Last month, Newell Rubbermaid announced it will close one-third of its 80 manufacturing plants and cut 5,000 jobs during the next three years, starting in January.
Falcon is owned by a group of Pennsylvania investors led by Angelo Falconi, who bought it out of bankruptcy court in 1998. At the time, the company was called Mac Plastics Inc. Falconi previously had owned the company from 1958-85.