FORT SMITH (KFSM) -- The manufacturing company Trane Inc. will be closing it's doors at a location in Fort Smith, a company spokesperson said Monday (Feb. 13).
Those of the 4811 S. Zero St., location will be moving their operations to other locations in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas. Residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning manufacturing happens at the Zero Street location.
About 250 employees work at that office. The closure will happen slowly, according to the spokesperson.
However, manufacturing will continue at the Trane Commercial HVAC plant, located at 9900 Aire Circle in Fort Smith.
The company released the following statement:
"The decision to transfer the Trane residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) manufacturing facility in Fort Smith, Arkansas to four other U.S. facilities was made after a strategic review of the business operations. By moving operations to other U.S. facilities, Trane is optimizing its manufacturing footprint, which is required to remain competitive in today’s environment. Facilities in Lynn Haven, Florida; Columbia, South Carolina; Vidalia, Georgia; and Tyler, Texas, will assume manufacturing of the residential and light commercial air conditioning products currently produced in Fort Smith. Manufacturing operations at the Trane Commercial HVAC plant, also located in Fort Smith, Arkansas, will continue."
Fort Smith city leaders said they are currently assessing the impact it will have on the economy.
""Fort Smith is very diverse in what we build here. So, we have a lot of manufacturing base here in the city and we are proud of it but as you can see with today's announcement Trane is, we are losing one of our partners and it's unfortunate," Fort Smith Director At Large Kevin Settle said. "As we continue to work with the Chamber, trying to build our workforce back up it's something we are working and strive to be better at."