Merillat plant to expand production

Ocala Star-Banner - September, 2001
By HARRIET DANIELS
Staff Writer

OCALA — By mid-morning on Friday, the lone production line of 70 workers at Merillat, a local cabinet-manufacturing plant, was ahead of its projected pace by eight units. Before the day ended, the group would produce the daily quota of 370 cabinet units from start to finish.

Merillat is planning to have a second production line operational by October and is gearing up to hire the additional 70 employees it will take to run it.

Carla DeFrank, human resources leader for Merillat, said the company plans to eventually have five production lines running in the 245,000-square-foot plant, with 350 employees turning out cabinets day and night. The third line is targeted to start up by March of 2002.

DeFrank said the company is pleased with hiring additional workers, as some of its neighbors have had to lay off workers or, in Mark III's case, close.

Merillat, headquarted in Adrian, Mich., opened the local facility in July 2000 and began producing cabinets in October of that year. The company located the plant in Ocala to be closer to its customer base in Central Florida. John Bankey is the local plant leader.

The turn-around time on a cabinet order from the plant is about a week. The company deals with a network of distributors or ships directly to builders rather than retailers. The Ocala plant is the first of its manufacturing facilities in Florida, although the company operates 10 distribution centers throughout the U.S., including Orlando and Tampa. Bailey Industries and Gale Industries, both with outlets in Ocala, are major distributors for Merillat.

The Villages of Lady Lake has maintained an exclusive contract with Merillat for the past three years to provide cabinets for residential homes built in the tri-county (Marion, Lake and Sumter) development and is the company's largest customer.

Heather Figlow, manager of residential products, said Merillat was the preferred vendor because it offers quality products along with timely installation and delivery.

The Villages currently has 14,493 homes with 27,449 residents. The community expects to have completed 2,001 new homes by the end of the year.

"When the Ocala plant opened, our shipment time went down to a couple of days versus about seven before,'' Figlow said. "With the plant being local, they are more in tune to what are needs are, and they can come to visit a site to handle any problems or we can offer them suggestions."

Merillat is interviewing potential workers and is receiving referrals from the One Stop Career Center in Gaitway Plaza in Ocala and local staffing agency Spherion for direct-hire or temporary-to-hire positions. The company offers a four-week paid training period.

DeFrank said Central Florida is a growing market for the company and the positive trend in housing starts in the region should keep Merillat on its projected growth pattern.

Harriet Daniels covers business for the Star-Banner. She can be reached at harriet.daniels@starbanner.com or 867-4125.

See September, 2001 issue of Ocala Star-Banner for original article