Today, Liebert Corp.

Friday, January 18, 2002

Today, Liebert Corp. employees in Ironton received an additional 33 hours of pay – part of a quarterly performance program.

Although company leaders cannot discuss gross profits because of the competition, the kind of success seen locally comes from those employees, said Pat Burke, product line manager, who announced the extra pay.

"I can tell you, we’ve turned a lot of heads in corporate headquarters," Burke said, speaking at the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation breakfast earlier this week. "We have three $1 million presses, but our most important asset is our associates."

Liebert plans to continue its success, with growth expected beyond the company’s current 350 associates.

Already, the company is investing another $1 million for a "powder paint" room; and a foundation product line is coming soon, which will produce security-type equipment for the company’s advanced air conditioning lines.

About 10 associates are in training for that line now, scheduled to be moved from Columbus into one-third of the Ironton plant’s newly finished 75,000-square-foot expansion, Burke said.

Another one-third will be used for the powder paint system, and the remaining one-third will be used for a stock room system, he said.

The new specially-designed paint room means the plant will become that more self-sufficient, plant manager Bob Walters said. Current painting operations are done in Columbus.

The addition also means a boost in employment, he said.

At least eight new workers will be needed right away, with another eight likely in the future.

"I can’t say enough about this area," Burke said. "I’d love to see more industries We would like to compete because manufacturing jobs build wealth in an area. I’ll do my part to bring more management jobs into this area."

Liebert, which signed a 10-year lease in April 2000 on the former Cabletron building, is a division of St. Louis-based Emerson Electric Co. It makes advanced air conditioning and environmental control equipment – for such things as computer rooms – that can maintain temperatures plus or minus 1 degree and within a percent of required humidity levels.