Simclar Interconnect Technologies to fill Ozark void

The jobs for 110 employees, including Cleeton, were on the line, threatened by consolidation or relocation. Fortunately, everything worked out, due to a seldom-used state tax credit.

Instead of moving operations to Mexico or some other faraway place, Cleeton’s Springfield assembly plant is moving to Ozark in early April.

Big business

Cleeton is director of operations for Simclar Interconnect Technologies Inc., a Springfield outfit at 4811 W. Kearney St. that assembles circuit boards mostly for Internet-related companies. One client, for example, is Paris-based communications technology giant Alcatel-Lucent.

In February 2006, Simclar Interconnect Technologies’ former parent company, Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., sold Cleeton’s operation to Scottish company Simclar Group Ltd., a $450 million manufacturing company with operations in Europe, North America and Asia.

This wasn’t the first ownership change for what is now Simclar Interconnect Technologies.

Litton Industries Inc. established the assembly plant in 1965. Litton sold to Northrop Grumman – a $30 billion aerospace/defense company – in 2001, but local jobs weren’t threatened at that time, said Cleeton, who has been with the company for 30 years.

So why were more than 100 local jobs in peril this time?

Northrop Grumman retained its circuit-board printing operation inside the 100,000-square-foot facility that it owns and splits with Simclar Interconnect Technologies. As part of the sale agreement, Simclar Interconnect Technologies had a year to find a new home.

Local company officials had to fight to stay in southwest Missouri, because their new parent company wanted to absorb operations into one of its other North American plants, either in another state or Mexico.

Meanwhile, Northrup Grumman hasn’t decided what it’s doing with the 50,000 square feet of space near Springfield’s airport that Simclar Interconnect Technologies is vacating.

“We’re still assessing our plans for the area,” said Jack Martin, director of public relations for Northrup Grumman’s electronic systems sector.

The Simclar and Northrup Grumman operations will continue to do business with each other, according to Cleeton.

Tax credits to the rescue

Cleeton and crew put together a proposal good enough to convince their new parent company that they should stay in the area.

To do that, they turned to local experts for help.

Their first step was contacting Greg Williams, head of economic development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Williams referred them to the Missouri Department of Economic Development, and Project Manager Michael Nichols took it from there.

Over the next several months, Nichols worked with Simclar Interconnect Technologies point man Paul Ripplinger, the company’s controller.

By August, they found a new facility in Ozark and a 50 percent tax credit that would solve their problem.

“We had 110 employees making about $47,000 or $48,000 a year,” Nichols said. “It was something we really wanted to keep here. We didn’t want to lose them.”

Nichols said they are using a “discretionary tax credit” that they seldom use to keep Simclar Interconnect Technologies planted in the area.

The company will occupy part of one building at the former Fasco site, 1624 W. Jackson St. in Ozark.

Simclar Interconnect Technologies, which generates about $60 million in annual revenues, is spending more than $1 million on infill work at its new 58,000-sqaure-foot space.

To get the tax credit, Simclar Interconnect Technologies donated $1 million of equipment to nonprofit group Ozark Main Street Inc., which will lease the equipment back to the company for $1 a year for five years.

Ozark Main Street, an organization dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of Ozark’s downtown, owns tax credits because of its nonprofit status. Ozark Main Street will pass its credit to Simclar Interconnect Technologies to use this year.

The result seems to satisfy everyone. Ozark gets a new big-time employer, and Simclar Interconnect Technologies gets to keep its local operations.

“Boy, the mayor just loves us,” said Cleeton, referring to Ozark Mayor Donna McQuay.

Speaker-maker SLS International Inc. and specialty catalog retailer Astral Direct LLC already occupy space in two buildings at the former Fasco in Ozark.

Now past corporate unrest, Simclar Interconnect Technologies has hired 15 support staff, including human resources and accounting professionals.

“It really settled our work force down once we got commitments from the state and from Ozark,” Ripplinger said. “It’s really helped morale.”[[In-content Ad]]