Kimball’s Closing

The Kimball Office furniture manufacturing plant here will be shutting down and consolidating with its base operations in Indiana. About 260 employees at the facility were informed on Wednesday. “This is certainly not a reflection on the employees or the operation,” said Marty Vaught, public relations director for Jasper, Ind.-based Kimball International. “More than 80 percent of our installed base of customers are east of Denver, so there’s a tremendous amount of transportation costs. It was purely an economic decision.” Kimball International has owned the facility under three different names - Harpers, Flexcel and Kimball Office - since 1994. During its peak, the metal fabrication facility employed as many as 450/ Brian Walker , Coeur d’Alene Press. More here. (Coeur d’Alene Press photo: Shawn Gust)