Cross Country Manufacturing is looking to sell its Blenheim operation.
That according to Stuart McFadden, acting director of economic development for Chatham-Kent.
The company, which employs about 100 people in Blenheim, is seeking to increase efficiencies internally, while working to ensure its people remain employed.
The Manitoba-based company builds aggregate and flat-deck trailers.
McFadden said the order board is full at the Blenheim operation, meaning it’s not the workload that is the issue for the company.
“They’ve got lots of orders there. But it needs someone who has the ability to put capital behind it,” he said. “They (Cross Country) have tried hard to manage the growth, but it became problematic.”
With a full job board, McFadden said the operation is attractive to would-be buyers, and a number have toured the facility already. What a purchaser would get is the entire Blenheim operation – the building, intellectual properties, assembly equipment and staff.
Cross Country still has a production facility in its home province of Manitoba, McFadden said, but it produces different products from what is made in Blenheim, so the plants would not be competing against one another.
McFadden said it wasn’t an easy choice for Cross Country ownership to decide to sell.
“I’ve gotten to know that ownership group pretty well over the years. This was a difficult decision for them,” he said. “I was impressed that their number one concern is the people. They have 100 employees there that they care about deeply. They just knew they couldn’t continue to do it themselves.”
McFadden said he first learned of the decision by the company to sell in mid-August.
“They’ve been looking at many different ways to become more efficient. A decision was made for the betterment of the company to sell the Blenheim facility,” he explained.
McFadden is hopeful a deal can be completed and anticipates “a seamless transition, and the same staff will continue to build quality trailers.”
Earlier this year, the Blenheim and District Chamber of Commerce named Cross Country entrepreneur of the year.
