Chicago, Illinois-based Home Products International, an injection molder of housewares products for storage, home organization, laundry care, and a maker of ironing boards, has declared Chapter 11 Bankruptcy with the final goal of sale or an orderly liquidation of assets.
According to the company's CFO, James Auker, "the company has not been able to convince its lenders to cover its operating losses, and it was unable to find a buyer for either its plastics or ironing board business lines.
"The debtors utilize resin to produce plastic storage products and steel to produce ironing boards. The price of resin and steel has been extremely volatile during the past two years, with resin prices doubling and steel prices tripling. The debtors have had only moderate success passing along those price increases to its customer base."
"At this point, seemingly nothing will change the trajectory of the plastics and ironing board business lines. Neither resin nor steel prices is expected to moderate sufficiently in the near future. The supply chain crisis is not expected to change in the near future."
The company laid off 146 workers at its two Chicago facilities, 96 plant employees, and 50 headquarters employees commencing on June 2, 2022.
In March 2022, the company announced the closure of its metal ironing board operation located in Seymour, Indiana, to concentrate on its plastics business. The closure impacted 130 company employees.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?