By: E&P Staff Since its acquisition and merger with Germany's Xsys Print Solutions by new owner CVC Capital Partners, Flint Ink's workforce has fallen to 150 from the approximately 270 employed by the formerly family-owned firm shortly before the merger was announced in July, the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News reported.
The company originally said no job losses were anticipated and that it would remain at its headquarters. But a smaller Flint Ink now seeks a smaller home, according to a Dec. 27 story by News reporters Mike Ramsey and Liz Cobbs. They report that the Flint family still owns the 150,000-square-foot headquarters near Ann Arbor, which it occupied in 1999, 12 years after moving research and development to Ann Arbor.
Corporate Communications Vice President Rita Conrad said eight sites are under consideration -- all within a few miles of the existing headquarters, where the lease expires in 18 months.
Following the acquisition, Conrad added, Flint's Precisia subsidiary's separate office was closed, divisional work on conductive ink brought into headquarters, and sales of Precisia's radio frequency identification products suspended. (The Jetrion inkjet products division continues to consolidate its area facilities.)
In addition to cutbacks in jobs, office space, and new businesses, the Flint Ink foundation, a generous supporter of local charities, was dissolved upon the company's sale. The News reported that in 2004 (when, by year end, it had $1.56 million in assets), the foundation gave $453,000 to about 30 charities. In liquidating its assets, the foundation made large donations, including substantial sums to Habitat for Humanity -- both locally and nationally for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, Conrad told the News.
The reporters cited a former IRS tax-exempt division chief as saying that had the foundation not disbursed all its assets before dissolving, the money would have gone to the IRS.
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