Lindy-Little Joe scaling back here
Roland Kehr knows a thing or two about numbness. He is, after all, a prominent local dentist.
But not even Kehr, also long affiliated with local icon Lindy-Little Joe Inc., was prepared for this shot.
On Thursday morning, PRADCO Fishing, which bought the Lindy-Little Joe tackle manufacturing company in February 2008, announced it was moving the company's shipping and warehouse operations to Fort Smith, Ark., where PRADCO Fishing is headquartered.
According to Bruce Stanton, vice president and general manager of PRADCO Fishing, 11 office workers were laid off at the Brainerd office Thursday and 13 more - from shipping and the warehouse - will be given 90-days' notice and be let go by the time Lindy-Little Joe relocates to Arkansas - within about six months, Stanton said.
"I think people are absolutely shocked," said Kehr, an owner of the company for nearly 30 years before last year's sale. "I'm basically in shock. These people have been here for 14, 15, 20 years. And the company was one of the most profitable of that division. I don't know what to say. There was no forewarning on this. They were pleased with Lindy. The product was doing just fine."
On Thursday morning, 11 office workers were laid off from Lindy-Little Joe Inc., 1110 Wright St. in Brainerd. Another 13 employees - from shipping and the warehouse - will be given 90-days' notice and be let go by the time Lindy-Little Joe relocates to Arkansas - within about six months. Brainerd Disptach/Kelly Humphrey» Purchase reprints of this photo.
Stanton, who was in Brainerd on Thursday from Fort Smith to break the news to Lindy-Little Joe employees, said, "It was something we had to do. With the economy, and sales down, we're trying to find cost savings. We can move it into our warehouse facility (in Arkansas) and ship it with the same overhead structure we have now. That's a big cost savings to us."
He said a handful of Lindy-Little Joe representatives will remain with the company - and stay in the Brainerd area in some capacity - including fishing rep and former Lindy-Little Joe president Ted Takasaki, marketing director Wayne Zitzow, sales manager Ron Kiffmeyer and operations manager Steve Borders.
"We're committed to the Lindy brand, it will just be shipped from a different location," Stanton said. "The same faces you're used to seeing will still be there. We think that's important."
Last year, at the time of the sale, PRADCO Fishing - a division of EBSCO Industries of Birmingham, Ala. - had all but assured Lindy-Little Joe that the company would remain in Brainerd, where it essentially was born and had been for the better part of four decades.
"We will remain Brainerd-based, they assured us of that," Zitzow said at the time. "I don't think there will be much change at all."
Hence the shock factor.
"They (PRADCO Fishing officials) were talking about making this (Brainerd) the northern distribution center," Kehr said, adding that he, too, believed the economy likely played a role in the decision. "It's one of the reasons we went with them."
At the time of the sale, Kehr said other companies had made offers to buy Lindy-Little Joe, but that the board had always turned them down. But with a number of board members in their 60s and seeking an exit strategy, Kehr said a marketing firm was hired in October 2007, and of the six companies that made offers, PRADCO Fishing proved to be the best fit.
"We were extremely excited when there was a company (that wanted to keep Lindy-Little Joe in Minnesota) that wanted us," Kehr said. "(The others) had no experience in the fishing industry. It was very similar to when the Lindners sold In-Fisherman. They sold at the top. And if you look at the industry now, it's a ghost of what it used to be."
The Lindy Tackle Co. was started in 1968 by brothers Al and Ron Lindner and Nick Adams in order to manufacture and market the Lindy Rig. The company was sold to Ray-O-Vac in 1973. That same year, Ray-O-Vac acquired Mille Lacs Mfg., which owned the Little Joe brand name of fishing tackle, and combined Mille Lacs Mfg. and Lindy to form a fishing tackle division.
Lindy-Little Joe Inc. was incorporated in November 1978 to acquire and operate the business of the fishing tackle division of Ray-O-Vac starting in January 1979. It markets products under the Lindy, Little Joe, Thill, Old Bayside, Munchies, M/G, Beckman and Drift Control brands.
PRADCO Fishing was founded in 1960 as part of Plastics Research and Development Corp., a custom injection molder. PRADCO Fishing has operated in Fort Smith since 1962, when it was Rebel Lures. In 1980, EBSCO Industries Inc., of Birmingham, Ala., acquired Rebel. Since that time, PRADCO Fishing has added many brands, including Arbogast, Bomber, Booyah, Cotton Cordell, Creek Chub, Smithwick, Silver Thread and YUM.
EBSCO, which stands for Elton B. Stephens Co., was founded in 1944 and is made up of more than 40 businesses, including fishing tackle. In 2008, the company employed more than 6,200 people and, according to Forbes magazine, was ranked in the top 200 of the nation's largest privately held corporations.
BRIAN S. PETERSON may be reached at brian.peterson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5864.