Local leaders hope to ease transition for workers displaced by Erwin plant closure

The roughly 120 employees at the closing Morrill Motors plant in Erwin could end up falling into the open arms of other manufacturers in the area.Mitch Miller, the CEO of the Northeast Tennessee Regional Economic Partnership, told Johnson City commissioners on Monday that ebm-papst, a manufacturer of electric motors and fans based in Germany, was one of the first employers to step forward to try to pick up workers losing their jobs at the Erwin plant. Morrill Motors and ebm-papst operate similar businesses, Miller said.Morrill Motors plans to close its plant by September 2020, outsourcing or transferring its production to other facilities."When you do ... have a company that's going to leave this area, I think you're going to see a lot of these industrial employers basically try to jump on it and snatch (the workers) up," Miller said on Monday. "Because right now, the workforce in general is tight. When you're in the 2-to-3% unemployment rate, it's very tough."Ebm-papst announced in May that it would invest $37 million in a new location at the Washington County Industrial Park, bringing roughly 200 new jobs to the region once the facility is operational. The company will work out of a temporary facility on Wesinpar Drive in Johnson City while it prepares its permanent facility in Telford.Phil Hartman, the senior director for marketing at ebm-papst, said the company is in the process of hiring employees for its new plant in Johnson City."We continue to move forward with our staffing requirements as needed," Hartman said by email.He said interested applicants can contact careers@us.ebmpapst.com for more information. He did not address whether the company is actively recruiting employees from the Morrill Motors plant in Erwin.Morrill Motors was founded in 1946 and has been manufacturing small appliance motors in Erwin for 73 years. Regal Beloit, an electric motor manufacturer based in Beloit, Wisconsin, bought the company in 2007.Tyler Engle, the executive director of the Joint Unicoi County Economic Development Board, said Tuesday he didn't have any information about whether ebm-papst hopes to hire those employees, but he noted that regional economic leaders have been working to ensure that employees at the closing facility have an easy transition into new jobs."Businesses across the region have reached out, and we're working closely to make sure there's as little wage interruption as possible," Engle said.He said officials are in the planning stages of connecting those employees to resources available at the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce and other programs in the area.Engle confirmed that the skills possessed by many of the employees at the Erwin Morrill Motors plant would translate to the needs of other manufacturing employers in the area."We know that this a valuable work force that is well-equipped and ready to go in and handle the tasks that a new employer would put to them," Engle said. "We regret that this change in business has happened at Regal, but we're looking for the most positive possible outcome for everybody."Bob Cantler, the president and CEO of the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce, said the organization will work with Morrill Motors to determine how their closure will occur."If we can offer some job fairs or connections with organizations like ebm-papst and several others that are seeking talent right now we want to help make those connections," Cantler said.He said one of the Chamber's goals is to keep employees in the region."It's an interesting time in our market right now," Cantler said. "We don't have a lot of growth, but where we do have growth, like ebm-papst, we want to make sure we connect them with the best workforce that they have."Press Staff Writer Jonathan Roberts contributed to this story.