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Blenko Glass to shut down
Blenko Glass in Milton hosts the 1st Festival of Glass & Collector's Weekend on Friday, Aug. 22, 2008.
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MILTON -- Blenko Glass Company announced Friday that it is shutting down production.
Twenty of its 50 employees have been laid off as of yet, and the company is discussing with legal counsel about whether it should file for bankruptcy.
Problems leading to the company's current financial situation go back four years, when the hand-made glass manufacturer was sued by Big Two Mile, its former gas supplier, a press release from Blenko said. The companies had a disagreement about the payments due to the gas company, and a court found in favor of Big Two Mile, entering a judgment against Blenko for more than $500,000 in September 2005.
Blenko made several proposals for settlement of the case, but none was accepted, the release said. It made no payments toward the $500,000, and instead invested money into the company hoping that it could turn a profit and begin to repay Big Two Mile.
On January 15, 2009, Big Two Mile took steps to seize all amounts, deposits and moneys in the Blenko Glass bank accounts, including its payroll and withholding accounts. It's a legal process if a company is executing on a judgment, said Blenko company President Walter Blenko.
The glass company first learned of the action on Jan. 23, when Blenko's bank reported that the bank accounts had been emptied.
This happened after the company was starting to see a turn around, employees said.
Relying on assurances from the gas company that it would not take steps to shut Blenko down, Walter Blenko, who lives in Pittsburgh, and his nephew Don Blenko of Wellesley, Mass., invested more than $2 million in the glass company to return it to profitability. And the company's losses in recent months had been reduced, said Walter Blenko.
"We were upgrading furnace operations.... We replaced a gas main -- that was an expensive project," Walter Blenko said. "We have a new furnace under construction. That would give us more operating efficiency. ... I thought we were starting to see the turn, but it's disappointing we weren't able to see that through."
Things were improving, said Blenko Assistant Vice President Katie Trippe.
"We had some incredibly good January trade shows," she said.
After Blenko's accounts were emptied, Blenko's gas supplier has refused to supply gas for the glass making process after Jan. 31, 2009, the release from Blenko said. Blenko has therefore shut down its furnaces. Some of them will be destroyed due to the loss of heat.
"We'd have to rebuild. That's something we're studying," Walter Blenko said.
He said he wanted to "thank and pay tribute to the many loyal employees of Blenko Glass who worked diligently and faithfully against bad economic conditions to keep the company operating and producing world renowned Blenko Glass up until the last day," Walter Blenko said in a press release.
The Blenko Visitor's Center will continue to remain open, but it has not been determined how long. The workers who will stay on will operate the center and make shipments. In the meantime, company officials will determine whether Blenko has a future.
Blenko has been at the Milton location since it was founded by Walter's grandfather, William Blenko, in the 1920s, Walter Blenko said.
James McDonald has worked there nearly 32 years.
"To me, it's a sad thing because of the simple fact that we were surviving until this hit us," McDonald said.
He currently is a safety administrator, but worked in the shipping department for years.
"I'm in the shipping department right now, and it's quiet in here," he said. "Everything has been turned off -- I've never heard it this way before."
