About 200 people are expected to lose their jobs in Loveland after Newport Beach, Calif.-based Waterpik Technologies Inc. said Thursday it will close its showerhead and water-filter production plant there by October.
Waterpik workers were tight-lipped about the closing. The manufacturing will be picked up by existing suppliers outside the U.S., said Jeff D’Eliscu, a company spokesman.
“Mum’s the word,” said Ron Strunk, a Loveland plant facilities supervisor. “I can’t comment – sorry.”
Area officials said they were surprised by the move, which was announced along with the company’s quarterly operating results.
“I found out about it along with everybody else this morning,” said Don Williams, Loveland city manager. “The manufacturing jobs are drying up pretty fast, but we’re trying to be creative.”
Workers will get severance benefits. Some may be hired at Waterpik’s Fort Collins plant, which makes dental and other personal health-care products, D’Eliscu said.
“The decision to close Loveland was not an easy one to make,” Bob Shortt, executive vice president and general manager in Fort Collins, said in a statement. “On a personal level, we understand the impact on our employees and their families, and we intend to assist them in finding new employment.”
D’Eliscu declined to say how many people Waterpik employs in Colorado. Economic- development officials put the number at 500 – up to 200 in Loveland and 300 in Fort Collins.
Waterpik announced sales of $79.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006 (the three months ended Dec. 31), an increase of 2.6 percent compared with sales for the same period in 2004. Earlier in January, the company said it would be bought by Coast Acquisition Corp., a private-equity investment group, for about $380 million.
While Waterpik closes up shop in Loveland, a dozen companies from around the country are looking at moving in, said J.J. Johnston, president and chief executive of the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp.
“What we have is a tight supply of industrial buildings and a very strong mix of end users for those buildings – companies looking to come into our region to hire the displaced workers,” Johnston said.
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
