Stant Manufacturing Inc., which makes vehicle parts and has been in Pine Bluff since 1981, is closing, and there appears to be little anyone could have done to keep the closure from happening.
Dun and Bradstreet, a business information company, lists the Pine Bluff plant as having 400 employees, although one state official said the number was likely less.
Little information was available from the company on Tuesday. Calls to the Stant office in the Jefferson Industrial Park and to other Stant offices out of state either went unanswered or were unreturned.
In this week's Chamber of Commerce's newsletter, there is an entry for an auction of Stant's plant equipment.
"Complete Closure of 230,000 Sq. Ft Facility!" one headline read. "Equipment as New as 2019."
Andy Duncan, a vice president with The Branford Group, an equipment auction company in Branford, Conn., that is handling the Stant auction, confirmed what was happening.
"Yes, they're closing the plant in Pine Bluff," Duncan said. "We're selling probably 90% of the equipment in the plant. There's something for everyone, even if you just need stuff for your garage." The auction is July 26.
State and local officials said they had been aware for months that the plant was going to close but didn't know when, and all said they had been blunted in any attempt to change the minds of company officials.
Steve Sparks, director of existing business resources with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the first time he heard about the company's plans was when the company said it was closing.
"We've known about it for a while and were never able to make any inroads," Sparks said. "They announced they were closing before they even talked to us about anything."
Sparks said that what happened to Stant is somewhat typical.
"A company acquires a business, divides it up, does whatever is necessary to make a profit," he said, "which is a sad thing for us, but that's the reality of business. We've just not been able to do anything, and they've been a good employer for years."
Sparks said the latest employment number he had heard for Stant was around 250.
"They've been whittling down for a while," Sparks said. "The number has been up and down, but it's been steadily dropping off. I think their work has been absorbed at other locations."
Stant was established in 1898 in Connersville, Ind. Over the years, it has made a variety of products. In 1915, it was the largest producer of piano tuning pins, according to its website.
One of the company's main products has been thermostats and pressure caps for radiators, which is what was made in Pine Bluff.
In 1997, Tomkins PLC, an engineering company based in London, purchased Stant. Eleven years later, Tomkins sold it to H.I.G Capital, a multinational private equity company.
Stant's brand, starting in February 2020, was to be folded into that of the MotoRad company, a manufacturer that makes some of the same parts that Stant makes, according to one online reference.
A call to another Stant office was picked up by someone who said she worked for MotoRad. She said she would have someone call back, but the call never happened.
Mayor Shirley Washington, through her assistant, William Fells, said she was notified last year the plant was closing "at which time the company stated the decision was final."
"However, the company stated, the closing would not be immediate," Fells said. "That is all the information we have."
White Hall Mayor Noel Foster said officials tried to discuss the situation with Stant executives but to no avail.
"I had heard they were closing, but even back then, the Alliance tried to talk to them, and I think it was a non-conversation," Foster said. "I'm going off memory."
Foster is on the Economic Development Corp. of Jefferson County, which oversees the proceeds of a three-eighths percent sales tax to spur economic development, a task that was given to the Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County.
The tax was collected starting in 2011, and even though the tax expired in 2018, "we still have money to help businesses," Foster said.
The White Hall mayor said the Alliance attempted on several occasions to find out if the company could use some of the tax money in order to stay in business here, but Stant officials wouldn't discuss the matter.
"I don't think they would even talk to them," he said. "I don't think they would even come to the door."
Including the Pine Bluff plant, Stant has nine offices across the United States and around globe.