DaytonDailyNews.com

VANDALIA — Financially troubled Shopsmith Inc., a woodworking tools manufacturer which hired a turnaround firm in January, has laid off employees, the company's president said Thursday.

Robert Folkerth said the company "significantly reduced" its reliance on sales representatives who often travel to shows to sell Shopsmith's tools and accessories. He said the company still had a "limited number" of representatives, but he would not say how many, nor would he discuss the number of layoffs or the company's current number of employees.

"We significantly reduced that channel of (sales)," Folkerth said.

He said the company will continue to have a "large" accessory business for current owners of the company's equipment.

"We'll produce positive cash flow from the first month, next month," Folkerth said.

Dave Hullinger, 63, said he was among the workers who were given a letter at the company's 6530 Poe Ave. factory Wednesday, telling them they were "indefinitely" laid off.

Hullinger said he didn't know how many workers were affected. According to a Hoover's profile of the company, Shopsmith had 93 employees at the end of April 2005.

Earlier this year, Shopsmith sent a letter to shareholders saying that company leaders had given Plan B Associates, a Chicago management firm that works with struggling companies, day-to-day decision-making power. The Jan. 31 letter said the company's goal was to increase revenue by 10 percent by March 2008 and achieve pretax earnings of at least $250,000.

Asked how the turnaround was proceeding, Folkerth said, "If it were progressing like we thought it would, we wouldn't have reduced the number of people doing it."

John Folkerth, father of Shopsmith's current president, founded the company in March 1972. The company converted from public to private ownership in 2005 after several years of losses.

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tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.