Published: March 10, 2017 |

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West Salem-based River Steel will close later this month, laying off the last 20 of its employees.

The family-owned company, which manufactures components for large power shovels, cites a global decline in mining and the shift of U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico as factors in its decision to close.

River Steel saw its workforce swell to more than 100 in 2013 after Caterpillar Inc. acquired Bucyrus International, one of its largest customers. But Caterpillar closed plants in 2015 and 2016 as part of a corporate restructuring.

“Caterpillar tried to sell the acquisition as an opportunity for its supply base,” said CEO Tim Brennan, the third generation of his family to lead the company. “But they moved a lot of jobs to Mexico.”

At the peak, Brennan said, River Steel’s Bucyrus contracts generated about $19 million a year in revenue; last year it was just over $100,000.

With only one contract lined up in 2016, Brennan put the West Salem headquarters, completed in 2007, on the market and consolidated manufacturing at its original French Island plant.

By January, the company was down to 63 employees when it lost another contract, resulting in another 43 workers being laid off.

“For the past several weeks, there had been an active interest on the part of another party that would have allowed operations to continue at one or both facilities,” Brennan said in a statement. “(B)ut they have opted now to pass, based on their own reservations about market conditions and existing capacities.”

In a notice sent Monday to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, the company said its remaining 20 workers will complete the current work backlog before being permanently laid off later in March.

River Steel has also announced plans to sell its assets through an online auction May 10-11. Equipment will be available for inspection on April 18.

Brennan said he continues to pursue ways to keep the company afloat, but conceded, “It’s very likely a permanent closing.”

Founded in 1954 by father and son James and Ralph Brennan, the company grew from a marina contractor into a major equipment fabricator, producing cabs, control rooms and other pieces for shovels used to mine copper, coal and iron in South America, Russia, China and Australia as well as tar sands in Canada.

In addition to Bucyrus mining shovels, River Steel products were used in the Logistics Health Inc. headquarters, the La Crosse Center skywalk, Wal-Mart Supercenters, and sports stadiums.

Last year, Ohio Gov. John Kasich held a town hall-style rally at River Steel’s West Salem plant during his failed presidential campaign. During a 2014 visit to the plant, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker scribbled “Go Packers” on a steel beam destined for the Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium.

“My wife, son and daughter have dedicated themselves to its success, as have the many wonderful people we’ve had the pleasure to work with,” Brennan said. “Our legacy is not so much in the global or landmark products we’ve participated in, but in a lifetime of relationships that we’ll value forever.”

Source: (March 8, 2017) La Crosse Tribune

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