Polyethylene pipe producer Prinsco Inc. will close its manufacturing plant in Appleton, Wis., and cut 33 jobs as it moves production to other facilities.
The company's warehousing and yard operations also will relocate to a new site, according to a Dec. 5 letter from Prinsco's human resources director to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
The consolidation will phase out 33 positions starting Feb. 4, until the plant and yard are completely closed by December 2020.
Based in Willmar, Minn., the family-owned business serves the agricultural, storm water and residential markets with high density PE pipe. With annual sales estimated at $140 million, Prinsco ranks 35th among North American pipe, profile and tubing extruders, according to Plastics News data.
Prinsco has offered employees in Appleton a chance to transfer to other facilities. The company website shows other manufacturing plants in Fresno, Calif.; Jesup, Iowa; Chatsworth, Ill.; Prinsburg, Minn., which is the flagship site; Bethany, Mo.; Fargo, N.D.; Beresford, S.D.; South Salt Lake, Utah; and Winkler, Manitoba in Canada.
Prinsco also operates yards in Corona, Calif.; Fort Dodge, Iowa; La Moille, Ill.; Fairfax, Minn.; and South Salt Lake, Utah.
“While we have offered transfers to other plants, it is impossible to predict with certainty which employees may accept transfers and which employees will be separated,” Human Resources Director Pat Whitmore wrote in the letter to Wisconsin's dislocated workers unit. She could not be immediately reached for further comment.
Founded in 1975, Prinsco started as a manufacturer of cement pipe but transitioned to HDPE pipe with a distinct gold stripe to meet demand from agricultural customers in the Midwest. The third-generation business later expanded its core business into the civil construction market and then the commercial and residential markets for retail and do-it-yourself customers.