Local manufacturer will close two plants, laying off 358 workers

An image taken from a Norcold Facebook post.

An image taken from a Norcold Facebook post.

Norcold LLC plans to lay off a total of 358 workers from sites in Shelby and Darke counties, the company has notified the state.

The refrigerator producer will permanently close its plants at 600 S. Kuther Road, in Sidney, and 1 Century Drive, in Darke County’s Gettysburg, effective Dec. 31, a Norcold human relations manager, Heather Bates, told the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services in separate letters dated Oct. 27.

The closures are due to a “corporate restructuring,” Bates said in her letter.

Norcold is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thetford Corp. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Thetford is a supplier of sanitation and refrigeration products for the RV, marine and heavy-duty truck industries.

In March 2020, as the pandemic began in the United States, Norcold temporarily laid off 224 of 265 employees in Sidney and about 120 of 137 employees in Gettysburg.

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