POET ethanol producer of year

POET has been named Ethanol Producer of the Year by Corporate Vision Magazine, it was announced this week.

POET, parent company Portland’s ethanol plant, was recognized for its innovative work to develop efficiencies in the ethanol production process and create new renewable products to replace petroleum-based products, which contributes to a world of cleaner and safer energy.

“If we want to return to a healthy, sustainable planet, it’s more important now than ever to literally return to our roots. For thousands of years, humans lived without extracting petroleum from the planet, and we can do it again. It’s a little-known fact that everything that comes from crude oil can be produced from crops and biomass grown on the surface of the Earth, and that biofuel and bioproducts derived from agriculture have the potential to replace fossil fuels. The agricultural potential of the world is virtually untapped, making it the best near-term solution to fight the effects of climate change” POET founder and chief executive officer Jeff Broin said in a prepared statement.



Shutting down

Macy’s at Muncie Mall is among 20 stores to be closed, the retailer announced this week. The close-out sales are expected to last eight to 12 weeks.

The closing will leave the mall with just one anchor store, J.C. Penney. Carson’s and Sears closed their Muncie Mall stores last year.

The Macy’s store at Glenbrook Square in Fort Wayne was not on the list of stores to be closed.



Third House

The Jay County Chamber of Commerce has scheduled a 3rd House Session for State Sen. Holdman and State Rep. J.D. Prescott on Saturday, Feb. 8, from 10 a.m. to noon. The public is invited to meet with the lawmakers at the Jay County Community Resource Center, 118 S Meridian St. Portland.



On the block

The contents of a glass bottling plant in Illinois that Ardagh Group closed in 2019 will be auctioned off later this month.

Ardagh closed the plant in Lincoln, Illinois, as part of what the company called “a footprint adjustment,” eliminating 150 jobs early last year.

Now, according to Beverage Daily, New Mill Capital, a national asset acquisition and disposition firm, has acquired the closed plant and plans to auction off its equipment.

New Mill plans to hold an online auction from Jan. 15 through 22, selling more than 500 items from the plant.

Items to be sold include glass cool down ovens, Munson mixers, bead blast equipment, air compressors, dryers, spray booths, strapping machines and pallet wrappers.

New Mill plans to repurpose the 300,000 square foot building.



No jerky

Tyson Foods Inc., parent of Tyson Mexican Original of Portland, has sold its Golden Island Jerky business to snack food company Jack Link’s.

The move means the closing of Tyson’s plant in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and the elimination of 371 jobs, according to multiple media reports.



Disappointing

The stock price of Walgreens Boots Alliance, parent of the Walgreens pharmacy chain, dropped this week after fiscal first-quarter earnings dropped more than had been expected.

U.S. sales were up 3.2%, but international sales were down 1.2%.



Crown slowing

A slowdown is underway at Crown Equipment in New Bremen, Ohio, The Lima News reported.

The company is now offering voluntary layoffs at its New Bremen-area facilities as the it scales back production of lift trucks in response to lower-than-anticipated sales.

Employees were notified of voluntary layoffs on Tuesday.

“New (lift) truck orders have been down,” Randy Niekamp, vice president of human resources over Crown’s U.S. market, told the Lima newspaper. “We’ve been bringing schedules down gradually and allowing attrition to take its course. Schedules have been reduced further.

“Hopefully we get enough takers that we don’t have to do an involuntary layoff.”

The voluntary layoffs affect t facilities in New Bremen, Fort Loramie, Greenville, New Knoxville, Minster and Celina.



Still dropping

The unemployment rate in Mercer County continues to drop.

Figures for November from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services show Mercer with a jobless rate of 2.4% in November, down from 2.6% in October.

Mercer County has had the state’s lowest jobless rate since May of 2016. Ohio’s unemployment rate in November was 4.2%, while the U.S. rate was 3.5%.



Fire at plant

Several area fire departments were called put out a fire at Bluffton Rubber Company on Wednesday morning.

The Bluffton Fire Department said everyone was able to get out of the rubber and plastic fabricating facility before the fire department arrived. No injuries were reported.