With a new name, manufacturer returns to roots
By MIKE CORN
It's been a rough six months for Dwight and Jennifer Allenbaugh, but with widespread support, they are poised to return to the scaffold-manufacturing business.
The Allenbaughs, brother and sister, have secured financing, purchased a building, ordered equipment and, once that arrives, will start hiring people.
Rising from the ashes, the reborn scaffolding company bears a similar name, will be housed in the nearly the same place and could stand on the expertise of employees who had carried the company for years.
In a wide-ranging interview, the Allenbaughs last week announced the resurrection of their family owned business, with a slightly different name than when it was forced into bankruptcy.
A-1 Scaffold Manufacturing Inc. should begin producing scaffolding equipment by early October. In the first year, they plan to have 21 employees, and will look at a slow, steady increase in the years to follow, Jennifer Allenbaugh said.
In February, the former A-1 Plank and Scaffold Mfg. Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, hoping to ward off a burgeoning burden of debt. The Allenbaugh Family Limited Partnership, which owned all the real estate used by A-1, also filed bankruptcy at the same time.
Today, both are but a shell, all of their machinery and equipment have been sold, as has the real estate they once held. While still in Chapter 11, they are being liquidated.
"How long the process goes on, I don't know," Jennifer Allenbaugh said.
Both Commerce Parkway buildings that were once owned by A-1 were sold through bankruptcy court to privately held Sizewise, the company that owns Wheelchairs of Kansas in Ellis. Sizewise has since sold the northernmost building, the former Tabla building, to A-1 Scaffold.
Despite the bankruptcy difficulties, both Allenbaughs are ready to move ahead, but admit there are problems and opportunities in starting all over.
The problems, naturally, deal with tasks that had been handled so routinely, now need to be considered individually.
The opportunity rests in the new automated equipment that has been purchased, and will be delivered over the next month.
That's when the hiring will start.
"We're hoping to employ 21 employees the first year, and increase by five every year," Jennifer Allenbaugh said.
Growth will be slow and conservative.
Both Allenbaughs say they will be welcomed back into the industry, at least by purchasers of the products.
"As of March 3, I started to make contact with people in the industry, to let them know about our plans and we were received with open arms," Dwight Allenbaugh said.
At the time, there were inquiries of what could be done to make the re-entry smoother.
He told them that it would help if they "continue to buy from us."
"People are very anxious to have our doors open again," Jennifer Allenbaugh said.
That includes former employees who were laid off when the company shut down operations and went into bankruptcy.
Many of the former employees, Jennifer Allenbaugh said, remain unemployed, and Dwight Allenbaugh said some have seen their unemployment benefits run out.
"So they are wanting to come to work," he said.
That alone will prove to be a big benefit to the company, bringing on employees who already understand the business and will be able to step right into production.
"As they were walking out the door, we were telling them, 'guys, we're going to start over,' " Dwight Allenbaugh said of what they told employees when they were laid off.
Currently A-1 Scaffold only has five employees and is contracting with other manufacturers to construct equipment to their specifications. The new equipment will allow them to manufacture their own equipment.