Ingersoll is in chapter 11 and is in the process of being sold to another company see info below. Guees we will see what the new compnay will offer.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Deal may create jobs in Portland
By EDWARD D. MURPHY, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend
Portland could gain more than a dozen manufacturing jobs next year as Eastman Industries moves a recently acquired maker of lawn and garden tractors from Wisconsin to Maine.
Eastman makes a line of walk-behind lawn mowers, including the lightweight Hovermower. Last spring, the Portland-based company purchased Wisconsin-based Ingersoll Equipment Co., which specializes in larger lawn tractors, commercial mowers and small backhoes.
On Monday, the Portland City Council approved up to $3.25 million in industrial revenue bonds that will allow Eastman to purchase a new manufacturing facility on Riverside Drive, where it will be able to consolidate the Eastman and Ingersoll oper- ations.
Nick Nikazmerad, Eastman's president, said it probably would have made more sense to move his operations to the Midwest, since he currently operates out of a smaller space with fewer employees in Portland than there are in Winneconne, Wis., where Ingersoll is located.
"I live in Maine and I love Maine and that is, I suppose, the only good reason" to combine the operations here, Nikazmerad said.
Nikazmerad said most of the parts for Eastman mowers are built by local manufacturers, and he has five employees who help design and assemble the mowers in Portland. He plans to use the same approach with the Ingersoll line and said he expects the move to Maine to create 10 to 15 new jobs here.
A few key Ingersoll employees have been offered jobs in Maine, he said, and will move east.
James Cloutier, a Portland city councilor, said the opportunity to land some manufacturing jobs caught the city's interest, since they are usually jobs that pay well and are more secure than many in the service sector.
"Frankly, that's something we do pay attention to," Cloutier said. "If you put a factory in place . . . it really helps support the base of the economy."
The bonds are not the responsibility of the city and don't affect Portland's bond rating, but they do allow the company issuing them to offer tax-exempt interest, which usually results in a lower interest rate.
Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:
emurphy@pressherald.com