WINDOM — Leaders with HyLife Foods Windom, LLC, a hog processing facility, state they will continue operations as usual, despite filing a notice on Monday with Minnesota’s rapid response coordinator through the Department of Employment and Economic Development detailing potential job losses if the company doesn’t find a purchaseer soon.
The notice was given in compliance with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, and stated that employment could finish for workers between April 17 and May 1 or between May 19 and June 2.
Tom Seigfreid, chief financial officer and senior director of business operations for HyLife, stated in the notice that current ownership purchased the business in 2020 with a goal of turning operations around. Investments were built in plant improvements and the community — HyLife contracted with a developer to build new houtilizing in Windom, which is still under construction — but Seigfreid stated in the WARN notification that the company also faced challenges.
“Unfortunately, despite these efforts, we have had to combat a number of challenges, including inflationary pressures, high grain costs, foreign exalter rates and the plant’s operational losses,” Seigfreid stated. “For some time now, the company has been exploring several strategic options that would have enabled it to continue go-forward operations despite these financial challenges. Unfortunately, so far, these efforts have not been successful.”
Tim Middagh/The Globe
While HyLife, based in Manitoba, Canada, continues to search for a purchaseer for the Windom operation, Seigfreid stated there’s a possibility they won’t be able to find a purchaseer or, if a sale takes place, the purchaseer will not extfinish employment offers to some or potentially all employees at the plant.
For that reason, the WARN notice was given. Seigfreid also stated the notice wasn’t issued earlier becautilize the company was seeking additional financing to continue operations and “reasonably believed that giving WARN notices would have precluded our ability to secure such capital or financing, resulting in a full shutdown of the facility.”
HyLife Windom has approximately 1,000 employees, according to Stacey Ashley, public relations and communications manager for HyLife.
“On April 10, 2023, we shared that our leadership has been working to sell this facility to ensure that the business continues and is properly capitalized for the future,” stated HyLife President and Chief Executive Officer Grant Lazaruk. “This means we intfinish to continue producing high-quality products while this sales process plays out. We want to sincerely thank our team. This is an extremely hard week and we are unquestionably sad.”
Windom City Administrator Steve Nasby stated he received notification from HyLife after hours on Monday about the WARN notification. He met with leaders from HyLife on Wednesday.
“Their intention is to sell the facility and they’re actively viewing for purchaseers,” Nasby stated. “The city is hopeful there can be a smooth transition without too much disruption.
“With such a large workforce, the impact on the community is significant,” he added. “We’re certainly optimistic a new purchaseer will come along. It’s a very good facility out there; it’s new with a good workforce. I would believe it would be a good turnkey operation for someone.”
Julie Buntjer became editor of The Globe in July 2021, after working as a beat reporter at the Worthington newspaper since December 2003. She has a bachelor’s degree in agriculture journalism from South Dakota State University.
Leave a Reply