Another plant will be closing in Ripon soon. TreeHouse Foods which was formerly known as ConAgra Foods announced its shutting down its cookie plant due to a drop in demand. Now dozens of workers need to find new jobs.
It was just last fall that ConAgra Foods announced they would be closing one of their two plants in Ripon. That decision resulted in over 300 jobs lost just last fall and for those people that managed to hold on, they just found out their current plant is closing too.
Everyone in Ripon knows of somebody that has worked at one of these two factories over the years.
"The generations of families that put time and effort into making those products have also put time and effort into making this community a better place," says Jason Mansmith the Executive Director of the Ripon Chamber of Commerce.
Some are more familiar with the plants and their current employees than others though.
"I know them all," says Carmen Schmidt who currently works at Alliance Laundry Systems in Ripon.
Schmidt spent 25 years working at Ripon Foods which later became home to Heritage Wafers. She was let go from her position last fall and completely understands the stress her colleagues and friends are going through.
"They're devastated just like we were last year for the Ripon cookie part of it," adds Schmidt.
She landed on her feet though. Scoring a job at Alliance Laundry Systems located in Ripon just a couple of hundred feet from her old plan. At Alliance they’re growing, and growing fast.
"We've had an expansion going on at Alliance Laundry Systems. A 62 million dollar expansion," adds Mansmith. He says it’s just a matter of time before the company taps into the soon to be let go assets from TreeHouse Foods and Schmidt and her employer agree.
"It's similar to the packaging of wafers that are coming down the assembly line. The assembly position here is similar," says Schmidt.
And while TreeHouse Foods, the company that owns the plant says they are closing because demand for the wafers is down, the demand for the employees behind these walls seems to be as high as ever before.
The plant is expected to close by the end of 2016. Over at Alliance Laundry Systems managers say they plan on hiring nearly 200 people within the next couple of years adding that those 60 employees would likely be a good fit for their company.
