MAZOMANIE, WI. -- A Dane County community lost its largest employer, leaving hundreds without work this holiday season.
Sunny Industries in Mazomanie announced 12 days ago that its printing presses would permanently halt, and they did so late Friday afternoon.
The company employed 380 people in the village of 1,400 located northwest of Madison.
The parking lot at the company was empty Friday and the locks were changed. By 5 p.m. Friday, workers left the printing presses knowing it would be their last day.
"There wasn't much to say. Our employees were terrific. Nobody left, everybody stayed to the bitter end," said Mike Spitz, president of Sunny Industries.
The company said it has one month to find potential investors, but the president said the chances are less than 50 percent.
"There seems to be a great deal of interest, but we're a very large printer with a lot of equipment and that continues to scare investors away because of the magnitude of what we have here," Spitz said.
Keith Miller, who worked at Sunny for 23 years, said a number of things raced through his mind at work Friday.
"(I thought), 'God this is my last day of work. Got kids to feed, family to support, how am I going to pay for health insurance?'" Miller said.
A downtown art gallery is holding a silent auction to benefit those in need this holiday season.
"I'm just trying to put myself in the employees or even the owners' position -- just what a sad feeling it can be at Christmastime and being able to support them," said Barbara Scharpf, an artist holding a silent auction to benefit the community.
Miller said life will be different, but he said he is optimistic about the future.
"The only thing I got is printing experience. And well, that says it all. I got 23 years, and I'm confident that I'll get a job," Miller said.
When Spitz was asked if there was anything he would have done differently, he said that investing in a succession plan with additional sales positions and printing presses is what ultimately led to some of the company's inefficiencies.
The facility will likely be auctioned off, WISC-TV reported. Whether the new owners will rehire the positions is a question on workers' minds.
The company said that consolidation is a big trend right now in the printing industry.
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