NCR signs contract with Florida firm to take work from Columbus plants being closed

Amid the shockwaves generated last week from NCR Corporation’s decision to close both of its plants in Columbus — costing more than 1,000 workers their livelihoods — one simple question was lost in the commotion: If not here, where will the company be manufacturing its ATMs and point-of-sale equipment that local workers are now making?

At least part of the answer can be found in a company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, submitted on April 23, the same day that Atlanta-based NCR was breaking the bad news about the local facilities to Columbus officials.

The firm informed the SEC it has signed a three-year contract with St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Jabil Inc. to produce the same ATM and self-service checkout systems that Columbus workers have been producing for nearly a decade.

“Once manufacturing is transitioned, the outsourced manufacturing services will cover products that the company is currently producing in its two Columbus, Georgia area manufacturing plants, which will be closed,” NCR said in the April 23 filing.

NCR also noted in its communication with the federal agency that production in Columbus and a plant being shuttered in China also could be absorbed by existing NCR facilities elsewhere and other third-party suppliers. Nearly a week ago, the company said the move, in essence, is to become more competitive and venture into the more lucrative area of software and services.

The bottom line: The publicly traded company has taken a hard look at its current product line and decided it needs to be into the markets of software, data and related services so it can make more money. In January, NCR reported a profit of $235 million on revenues of nearly $2.6 billion in 2017, although its financial numbers fell in the final quarter of the year.

It’s likely most people have never heard of Jabil Inc., a company founded in Detroit in 1966 by James Golden and William “Bill” Morean, its name crafted from a few letters in each of their names. The firm has grown through the years into a major third-party manufacturer in myriad industries, with more than 100 facilities in 29 countries. NCR said it has used Jabil to make other technology products for nearly a decade.

More:NCR closing its Columbus plants, more than 1,000 jobs will be lost

For Columbus, NCR has been a manufacturing employer since 2009. More than 1,000 jobs will be lost locally due to the plant closures. There are about 360 full-time NCR employees and another 679 now working at its Columbus facilities through temporary staffing companies. The total as of last Monday was 1,039.

The firm has a 340,000-square-foot plant in Corporate Ridge Business Park and a 100,000-square-foot facility in Muscogee Technology Park in the Midland area of the city.

Tim Henschel, a spokesman for NCR, said last week that the Midland facility should close by August, with the Corporate Ridge plant operating at some capacity into September before shutting down altogether in October.

“NCR is working with the city on a mutually agreeable disposition of the properties,” Henschel said Friday. “Additionally, NCR will hold a job fair and offer outplacement services to help (workers) connect with local employers.”

He stressed the company plans to meet all of its financial commitments to Columbus and the Development Authority of Columbus.

Russ Carreker, chairman of the Development Authority, said the city and his organization stands ready to assist NCR with marketing the properties which will be vacated by the end of this year. He also said city officials should attempt to contact Jabil to gauge that company’s interest in coming to Columbus and setting up a manufacturing plant or some other type of operation that might take advantage of the workforce and large facilities already in place here.

“That is the silver lining, if there is one to be found in this whole deal, is that we’re extremely short on large industrial buildings,” he said. “Being able to use that to get people to come down here and give us a look is a challenge that we’ve been trying to work on.”

Brian Sillitto, executive vice president of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, said Friday he’s looking forward to having a conversation with Jabil to see if one of the Columbus plants might fit into the firm’s overall business plan. He also expects to have discussions with NCR officials in the coming weeks to determine what they plan to do with the structures.

“This has been priority number one all week long and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, because not only do we have the real-estate component of this, we’ve got (the task of) trying to backfill the jobs, we’ve got the displaced workers,” he said. “So it’s an all-hands-on-deck exercise that literally is just beginning.”

Sillitto said the city is closing in on landing a commitment for jobs from an employer in the coming weeks. He also said there are other prospects in the pipeline that are in various stages of making a decision on what they need to do in Columbus or elsewhere.

Atlanta-based financial technology firm InComm announced Wednesday it will be investing $20 million into its Georgia operations, with plans to hire about 150 in the state, including 55 at its Columbus office space at Brookstone Centre. InComm’s local office already employs about 100 people.

“I’m optimistic that we’re going to be able to get some of these over the finish line and get some wins,” Sillitto said of the employer prospects he is now working to recruit.

Jabil Inc. did not return telephone and email messages Friday seeking comment about its plans with NCR or the possibility of considering Columbus and the former NCR properties for a future manufacturing facility.

Led by Chief Executive Officer Mark Mondello, Jabil reported a profit of just over $127 million in its last fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2017. That came on revenues of about $19 billion. The year before, the firm reached a profit of $254.8 million on revenues of $18.3 billion.

Jabil is currently using a slogan on its website, “Empowering Brands Who Empower The World,” with it doing business with startups and large companies alike.

“We want to be the brand behind the brand,” Mondello said in a 2015 article on Jabil on the business website, Fast Company. “We are low-key and need to protect their IP (intellectual property).”

This story was originally published April 28, 2018 at 4:19 PM with the headline "NCR signs contract with Florida firm to take work from Columbus plants being closed."