Philipsburg factory to lay off 34 employees

Lori Falce

PHILIPSBURG — For 34 employees of a Philipsburg manufacturer, the Christmas season will be starting with an unemployment check.

Shain Solutions, formerly Shain Shop-Bilt, makes furniture for educational facilities and other institutions. It’s one of several “sister companies” under the umbrella of an unnamed holding company, according to Craig Darrow, of Diversified Woodcrafts, Suring, Wis. Diversified is one of its “sister companies,” a maker of furniture for school science labs.

“A very difficult decision has been made to move the Shain product line to our facility,” said Darrow in a phone interview Wednesday.

Production will begin at the Wisconsin plant on Dec. 7. The last day for Shain employees at the factory on Hemlock Street in Philipsburg will be Dec. 4.

Although Darrow said the decision had been made earlier, employees were told about the closing on Friday. A notice on the Shain Web site, and one on the almost identical Diversified Web site, says all customer issues will be handled by Diversified staff as part of an effort to ease the transition.

Darrow said offers to existing Philipsburg staff to move to Wisconsin were a possibility, but could not comment as negotiations continue with the union at Shain regarding the closing and severance packages. “It is an unfortunate impact,” he said.

Local representatives from Shain did not return phone calls for comment.