Cardinal Fasteners, a Northeast Ohio maker of heavy-duty industrial bolts for earth movers, bridges, and construction, and briefly for the U.S. fledgling wind industry, is being closed by its German corporate owner.
View full sizeRichie Clotz, a machinist at Cadinal Fastener & Specialty Co., Inc., formed the heads for 300 to 700 large bolts a day at Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co., Inc. in January 2009 when the company was becoming a supplier to the U.S. wind industry. President-elect Barack Obama visited the company at that time to underscore his commitment to green energy. Cardinal later filed for bankruptcy. Its new owner consolidating Cardinal with its Michigan operations. BEDFORD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Cardinal Fastener, a long-time industrial bolts maker that bet and lost on the growth of the U.S. wind industry, will close in the next couple of months.
Marc Strandquist executive vice president of the Wurth Group, Cardinal's German corporate owner since it acquired the company during bankruptcy proceedings in 2011, told employees late last week that Cardinal's business would be merged with another of Wurth's companies, Dokka Fasteners Inc., in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Most of Cardinal's equipment will be moved to the Michigan facility, which was built in 2011, said Jim Witucki, director of sales for Dokka, who is at Cardinal's offices this week.
Cardinal employs between 30 and 40 people, he said, and Dokka's team is interviewing each of them.
"We are assessing people, talking to all folks one-on-one, with specific skill sets," he said, with the objective to relocate some of them.
Both Cardinal and Dokka manufacture large bolts used by companies that make earth moving equipment, oil and gas drilling equipment, bridge construction, as well as wind turbines and turbine towers.
Witucki said the two production facilities make similar products, though Dokka, which was built in 2011, is highly automated.
He said Cardinal will fill its existing orders before the plant is closed and the equipment relocated to Michigan.
The fledgling U.S. wind industry has relied on federal production tax credits that Congress has often renewed for just one year at a time, creating an uncertain future for turbine makers, as well as the parts makers that supply them. A lot of the manufacturing for the wind industry has returned to Europe.
Cardinal's founder John Grabner tried to capture business from European turbine parts makers, often promoting the company as capable of quickly filling special orders, finishing the work and shipping the bolts on the same day a customer ordered them.
Cardinal catapulted itself in the national spotlight when then President-elect Barack Obama visited Cardinal's shop floor in January 2009, calling it an example of an American manufacturing company that was creating jobs by supplying parts to renewable energy manufacturing. The company had begun supplying bolts to the wind industry in 2007.
Most of Cardinal's orders at the time of Obama's visit were from its traditional customers, not the wind industry. Cardinal then took on debt to expand its wind industry business as the recession continued to hold down other manufacturing.
Grabner founded Cardinal in the early 1980s with just 11 employees. Cardinal's workforce went from about 40 when Obama visited to as many as 65 before the company's creditors forced it to file for bankruptcy protection in June 2011.
Grabner, in an emailed statement at the time of the filing, said, "The voluntary filing became necessary largely as a result of an impasse in negotiations with Wells Fargo, our primary lender, regarding working capital financing."
Wurth acquired the company in October 2011 for $3.9 million.