By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Perma-Flex Roller Technology has shut down, closing another chapter in Rowan County’s industrial history book.
Once the market leader in the manufacture of industrial cylinders, Perma-Flex closed July 20 and laid off about 20 employees, according to Finzer Roller, which bought the Perma-Flex building at 1415 Jake Alexander Boulevard South.
Finzer plans to sell the 53,000-square-foot building, which sits on about three-and-a-half acres.
Perma-Flex owner Mike Berwick and none of the company’s executives could be reached for comment Tuesday.
Based in Des Plaines, Ill., Finzer was a competitor of Perma-Flex and bought some equipment and intellectual property, in addition to the building, CEO John Finzer said.
When Finzer arrived on July 21, the company spent a week deciding whether to keep the plant open or close the facility and steer the work to the Finzer’s eight plants, Finzer said.
“After our evaluation, we decided to close the facility and relocate the available work to the geographically appropriate Finzer location,” he said.
The Perma-Flex plant didn’t enough unique capabilities to warrant keeping it open, he said.
All roller plants are suffering during the economic downturn, Finzer said.
“Most of our plants are at half capacity,” he said.
Finzer said he hopes additional business picked up from Perma-Flex will help boost sales at Finzer.
“In addition to the active customers with jobs in-house at the time of closing, we are hoping there will be other opportunities to find in the sales archives that we can reactivate,” Finzer said.
Finzer is trying to reach all customers with open accounts, he said, and many have been receptive to Finzer completing the work.
Finzer has hired two Perma-Flex employees who work in sales and encouraged others to apply for jobs with the company, although anyone hired would have to relocate. The closest Finzer plant is in Kernersville.
“I hope people who used to work here quickly land on their feet,” Finzer said.
He said he’s not sure why Perma-Flex closed, but the company had struggled financially.
“They’ve been here for quite some time, and historically, they have been a very capable leader in the roller industry,” Finzer said. “It’s sad to see it go downhill.”
Perma-Flex made rotating cylinders as small as 3 inches in diameter to as large as 48 inches in diameter and 13 feet long. The rollers were used to press, nip and convey all sorts of materials in the manufacturing process.
The company supplied cylinders to industries including tobacco, textile, steel, paper and film manufacturers.
Perma-Flex was established in 1949 as Kern Rubber Co. by Thomas W. Kern, who created three divisions — Kern Polymeric, Perma-Flex and Kern Rubber.
The company was sold to Huyck International in 1978 and then to the Scapa Group in 1981.
In 1999, Voith AG of Germany bought the former Kern companies and decided to spin off Perma-Flex.
Berwick and Douglas Angel bought Perma-Flex from Voith AG in 2001, when Perma-Flex had four plants in North America.
Robert Van Geons, executive director for RowanWorks Economic Development, said he was disappointed to learn of the plant closure and said his organization will work with Finzer to find someone to buy the building.
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.