Aqua Glass Corporation of Klamath Falls to close, 51 workers will lose jobs

Declines in new construction were blamed Tuesday for the pending closure of the Aqua Glass Corp. manufacturer in Klamath Falls. The plant, which makes bathroom and shower products, is expected to close in March or April and 51 people will lose their jobs, said Trey Senn, director of the Klamath County Economic Development Association.

"They had been going this direction for some time," he said.

The company selected a site near the Klamath Falls Airport in 1992 and opened the following year. At its peak, it employed about 300 people.

The company owns its building, which has about 200,000 square feet, on a roughly 35-acre site. The plant was valued at $9 million at the time of its construction. The Klamath Falls operation was Aqua Glass´ distribution center for 13 Western states, a company official said at the time of the plant´s ground breaking.

Klamath County had a 12.3 percent seasonally adjusted jobless rate in November. Since at least 2005, the county rate, which peaked at 14.6 percent in early 2009, has been higher than the state rate.

Aqua Glass is part of Moorestown, N.J.-based Masco Bath, which is a division of Masco Corp. of Taylor, Mich.

Masco Corp. manufactures, distributes and installs home improvement and building products for home construction markets principally in North America and Europe.

An Aqua Glass employee referred questions to the Michigan headquarters. Phone messages for a company spokesperson were not returned Tuesday afternoon.

In its third quarter ending Sept. 30, the company reported a $36 million profit compared to a $5 million loss for the same period in 2010.

"We have continued to take aggressive steps to address these challenging market dynamics and further reduce our cost structure," chief executive Tim Wadhams said in a news release accompanying the quarterly summary. "In October, we closed multiple facilities and reduced headcount in those businesses most affected by these economic conditions."

During that quarter, the news release says, the company focused on "business consolidations, plant closures, headcount reductions, system implementations and other initiatives."