HAMILTON — The Beckett Mill’s final day after nearly 165 years of operations will be Jan. 13, said the paper mill’s owners, Mohawk Fine Papers.
The company announced in October the plant would close by the end of the year. Most of the plant’s 137 employees are still working at the mill, said Kevin Richard, Mohawk chief operating officer.
The closure of the Dayton Street facility and three paper machines is to realign the New York company’s manufacturing platform in response to a changing paper market, according to the company. Production will move to Mohawk’s remaining mills in Cohoes and Waterford, N.Y., according to Mohawk.
“We feel that over the years the Beckett employees have done everything we asked,” said Kevin Richard, Mohawk chief operating officer.
The employees stepped up and helped reduce costs and improve quality, he said. But it wasn’t enough to stay off the declining demand for dark colored text and cover papers, used for corporate documents.
“The facts are things are beyond our control and beyond the people’s control. Fundamental changes have gone on in the paper industry. We’re very appreciative of all the hard work over the years since purchasing the facility in 2005,” he said.
The Beckett Paper Co. started in 1848.
“I mean certainly there’s a lot of history in the facility,” Richard said.
The O’Connor family that owns Mohawk brought some additional years of life to the facility that might not have happened if it was bought by a larger company, he said.
“Unfortunately even with all the tricks we had...we have succumbed to the challenges in the market,” he said.
Richard said the paper machines will run until about the second week of January. Then employees will help clean the mill and winterize it.
He added a number of companies have looked at the facilities and equipment, but no deal has been reached yet to buy them. If no deal is reached, the equipment will be sold throughout 2012 and the company will make a plan for the real estate, he said.
“There’s a lot of mixed feelings about why the mill’s closing. It’s a pretty sad place to be right now,” said Floyd Strack, president of Mohawk’s union, United Steelworkers Local 1968.
Some of the men and women have grown up in the mill, starting a week after high school graduation, Strack said. A majority of the work force are in their 40s, 50s or 60s, he said.
“People just don’t understand I guess the way the business went south so fast,” he said.
Robert Payne of Trenton is a shift mechanic at Mohawk and has worked at the mill 23 years. He said he was surprised the mill was closing. The husband and father of three is trying to find a new maintenance job.
“I’m working on it,” Payne said. “Can’t really plan for it.”
At the beginning of the year, sales were down. But employees didn’t have a clue that if sales didn’t pick up the doors would close, Strack said. All summer, production ran at full with people working six days a week.
Then about 45 people were laid off in September, Strack said. When the employees were called back, they weren’t told until afterwards that the mill would close after the end of the year, he said.
“They didn’t feel like it had to be done so abruptly,” he said. “We always kind of had the idea we’d be around longer than SMART.”
That’s because Mohawk is smaller, he added.
There is also no word yet on a deal with buyers of SMART Papers, Hamilton’s other paper mill that is winding down business, said Tim Needham, chairman of SMART.
“The loss of over 300 jobs will have an impact on the community,” said Stacey Dietrich Dudas, Hamilton economic development specialist.
SMART had more than 200 employees.
“Luckily, the paper industry in Hamilton isn’t as big as it used to be,” she said. “It’s not as big of a hit as it could have been.”
Hamilton at one time was the headquarters of Champion Paper, now SMART, employing thousands of people.
The city and companies might be able to find an industry that’s a perfect fit for Mohawk and SMART’s buildings and equipment, but it will be hard to find a business that wants all the facilities, she said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.