Doors close at historic FRAM plant in Stratford

The FRAM plant is seen on its final day of production in Stratford, Ont. on Friday, Sept. 28, 2012.

All is quiet at FRAM. One of Stratford’s best-known manufacturing plants has been silenced after 59 years in operation.

The final 35 employees were sent home from the Romeo Street plant Friday and will now have to start over. Some had worked there for decades.

FRAM produced oil, fuel and air filters for cars and trucks and at its peak there were 600 employees at the plant.

Many expected to work there to retirement, until a meeting in August 2011 where they learned the plant would be closing.

The news came just months after the consumer products division of U.S.-based Honeywell Corporation, which owned FRAM, was purchased by New Zealand-based Rank Group.

While initially thought to be a positive development, things changed quickly and 200 employees were left having to start looking for new jobs.

That included Mary Bennett, who had worked at FRAM from 34 years and says “It was quite upsetting for all of us.”

Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson says “They told us they liked the efficiency, the productivity and the quality of the product that was coming out of Stratford.”

Production was moved to a FRAM plant in Ohio, with the company blaming overproduction in the business and the high Canadian dollar.

Now Bennett helps run Next Steps Action Centre at 155 Erie Street in Stratford.

It’s a job centre for former employees that helps them find retraining, other jobs or return to school. The company provides the equipment and supplies and the province contributes to the costs.

Bennett says “As an older workforce we have a lot to give employers now. We don’t have smaller children at home so we can be there everyday, that sort of thing.”

While some former employees have found work quickly, others haven’t been so fortunate.

According to the job centre, just over half of FRAM’s workers have returned to school, retired or found work.

As for the plant itself, there’s reportedly a potential buyer for it, but no indication what it could become.