PAXTON — Baltimore Aircoil, the largest employer in Paxton, informed its 223 workers today that they will lose their jobs and the manufacturing facility will close by late June.

In what corporate officials said was “a difficult decision,” the Paxton plant is expected to begin “initial reductions in production” by May and close by late June, according to a statement from the company’s headquarters in Maryland. Baltimore Aircoil has been in Paxton for 36 years.

The closing of the Paxton facility comes “as a result of the significant downturn in the global economy,” the statement said.

“The economic downturn has had a significant impact on all markets and has affected commercial construction, BAC’s core market, particularly hard,” said Steve Duerwachter, president of Baltimore Aircoil, in the news release. “This is a difficult decision.

“We realize that it is very disappointing news for our 223 employees working at our Paxton facility. We are committed to working to minimize the impact of this closing on our employees, and the Paxton community.”

BAC is providing displaced employees with severance pay, medical benefits, outplacement counseling and assistance with tuition related to skills training, the statement said.

It added that BAC plans to consolidate its manufacturing into its two remaining North American plants in Milford, Del., and Madera, Calif. The move “is necessary for BAC to remain competitive in the cost-conscious and challenging economy in which we operate today,” the statement said.

Officials at the Paxton facility said they could not comment on the closure.
Paxton Mayor Bill Ingold said he was shocked by the news and that he hopes the closure will be temporary.

Ingold said he has contacted the city’s financial adviser to see if there is anything the city can do to assist the displaced employees.

The announced closure of the BAC plant comes just a month after another Paxton manufacturing plant, High Concrete Technology, laid off more than 70 of its employees and temporarily closed its doors.

Baltimore Aircoil Company, founded in Baltimore in 1938, is a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of heat transfer and ice thermal storage products, according to the company’s Web site.

BAC products are sold to the commercial building market as components for air conditioning systems, to the food industry for air-conditioning and refrigeration applications, and to a range of industries for process and power installations equipment cooling, the Web site said.

Baltimore Aircoil has made open cooling towers, closed-circuit cooling towers, evaporative condensers and ice thermal storage coils — all part of commercial and industrial air-conditioning systems and industrial refrigeration systems.

The company opened its plant in Paxton in 1973 when Baltimore Aircoil was part of Merck & Company. Baltimore Aircoil was acquired by Chicago-based Amsted Industries in 1985. Amsted decided to sell Baltimore Aircoil in early 2001, but later canceled that decision.

The Paxton plant expanded by 20,000 square feet in 1989, and in 2003, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced the company would expand again, with plans for a 25,000-square-foot expansion and 46 new jobs. In 2004, Baltimore Aircoil shifted its manufacturing operations in Jessup, Md., to the plant in Paxton and one in Milford, Del.