Springs Global

In 1887, Samuel Elliott White and others started Fort Mill Manufacturing Co. in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The plant opened in 1888. At one time, the plant employed 2000 and was the largest producer of fabric for bed sheets in the world, but in 1983 when it closed, only 200 still worked there. In 1895, Leroy Springs and others started Lancaster Cotton Mill in Lancaster, South Carolina. In 1948, Springs opened the Grace Plant on the Catawba River near Lancaster at the site of a former locomotive shop. The company made consumer products for the first time. In 1962, Springs announced a warehouse complex in Fort Lawn, which was followed by the Elliott Plant and the Frances Plant. 650 people worked at the three operations. The warehouses could hold cotton worth more than $19 million. The Katherine Plant in Chester opened in 1968. Springs had previously been considered a possible buyer of Cannon Mills. On October 21, 1986, Crosland-Erwin Associates and Springs chairman Walter Elisha announced plans for an outlet mall in the Fort Mill plant. The project turned out to be too expensive and it was tainted by the Heritage USA scandal. The Fort Mill plant burned June 28, 1988. Springs was the largest industrial employer in South Carolina In August 1988, Springs announced that 200 jobs would be lost at its 93-year-old Lancaster complex. This would reduce the number of employees to 1300, down from 4500 in 1981. The number of fly shuttle looms was reduced during the same period from 7000 to 300. On October 20, 1988, Springs announced plans to spend $370 million over the next two years on modernization, as well as closing or selling some plants. This would include the Home Furnishings and Industrial Fabrics groups. Already, the White Plant in Fort Mill and the Katherine Plant in Chester were getting $20 million in improvements each, while in Lancaster, 200 jobs were being dropped as a weaving process was ended, and 179 lost their jobs in Anderson, South Carolina with the closing of the Lyons Plant. In 1989, Springs opened the Close Plant in Fort Mill. ==Merger with Coteminas==

Springs began its association with Brazil-based Coteminas in 2001, when the Close family took the company private. That year, Springs and Coteminas began a "[s]trategic long-term alliance." After spending $10 million improving the Katherine Plant in 2005, Springs announced machinery from there would be moved to South America, and 700 would lose their jobs by February 2007, despite their claims of keeping job. Also, the Frances Plant in Fort Lawn was closing in December 2006, with 60 jobs lost. On June 27, 2007 Springs said that after 120 years, Springs would end manufacturing in South Carolina with the closing of its Grace and Close plants. The state would still have about 700 employees, most of them at distribution centers in Lancaster and Fort Lawn, and at the Fort Mill offices. == References ==