Exec: Annandale Company Considering Buying Vacant Nebraska Plant

DEWITT, Neb. (AP) - An Annandale company is working with Nebraska officials on acquiring a vacant former Vise-Grip plant in southeast Nebraska.

Malco Products Inc. President Mardon Quandt told the Beatrice Daily Sun that "there's a good fit with the culture and the work environment in Nebraska."

The company is based in Annandale, Minnesota, and makes tools for the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning industry and produces other specialty tools as well. Quandt declined to say what would be produced at the DeWitt plant or how many people would be hired. He also said the plant purchase agreement is still being finalized.

More than 300 DeWitt jobs were lost in 2008 when Newell Rubbermaid, the owner of the Vise-Grip brand and its plant in DeWitt, moved production to China.