Schult Homes closing NW Kansas plant

It is something that we certainly had been working on for several years A company that makes manufactured housing is closing its plant in this northwest Kansas town, citing market conditions and a shortage of labor. via Newton Kansan

[hell in a handbasket]

management is MOSTLY to blame, allthough the workers lacked the effort to "pull together" and turn things around. it was due largely in part to the gross mis-management of the plant. treating people as disposable "slaves"(for lack of a better term) constantly pressuring and grinding for more, faster, yesterday (with quality being mentioned but never truly cared about). and thus destroying the spirit and will of those who truly wanted to be there and make it better.the production manager was the biggest joke of all, lacking even the most basic people skills, or communication abilities. Belittling employees is by NO MEANS MOTOVATIONAL SPEAKING. im sorry i no longer have a job. but thanks to "the powers that be" it was a hellhole to try and stomach....only sad thing is i could see the potentioal of what it could have been.....what the "old timers" reffered to as the good ole days. even though i was never there to see anything remotly close to it. i could imagine what it must have been like when the place was booming.They say the lack of employees was to blame.....anyone who ever worked there or even interviewed could tell you managment was to blame for driving people away, and burying out spirit

[SBN]

It has always been that way from the day that plant opened. All the years it has never changed.
WAY TO GO PLAINVILLE!
LAST ONE OUT, SHUT OFF THE LIGHTS.

[Flamethrower]

You folks at Great Plains Mfg. better listen up...you're next.

[plainville]

Much of the problem in rural Kansas, is the failure that rural has to mean much more than Agriculture if the goal is to retain population. Who knows what is ultimately responsible for the shut down? One reason was lack of good housing in Plainville. Understand this. The plant was building home that meet the UBC, and Plainville was giving away free land. Over one Summer it should have been possible to create a glut of affordable housing. I guess that was a problem for Plainville landlords, and home owners with homes for sale. Plainville probably is no worse or better than any other rural Kansas small town, but it is the pits.

[Stockton]

The plant in Plainville certainly was mismanaged to a degree that's almost sickening. The vast majority of people working there were very discontent, and those that had worked there but left (and there were many because turnover was so high) virtually never had anything good to say about their experiences working there. When you're treated like disposable garbage, you aren't likely to promote the place to help spur other reliable people to join the workforce. In an area like this, word gets out, and although Schult Plainville has had a bad reputation for years, it's bad rep was probably close to an all-time high at the time of closing. People were constantly expected to not only perform their own jobs in a timely fashion, but often forced to stay to cover jobs of others who were either unreliable or who had quit because of miserable working conditions. While we all expect to make sacrifices in the workplace from time to time, getting paid a single salary to do two jobs at once on a daily basis sometimes for months at a time ultimately leads to unhappiness. That, my friends, causes yet an even higher turnover rate and an endless vicious cycle that Schult was unable to break...and seemingly unwilling to even attempt to break... You cannot 'reward' your best employees day after day with unwanted extra-long workdays and workloads and expect them to stick around forever...