Dynacraft’s move to Texas affects more than 100 workers in Algona; layoffs start in May
In February 2019, Dynacraft in Algona celebrated its workers in a Facebook post, noting they had braved the snow to come to work.
One year later, the division’s headquarters at the site is set to move.
The planned closure/relocation of a trucking parts assembly and distribution headquarters is set to take place in phases starting in May. Dynacraft is moving its work at the site to a city about 20 miles north of Dallas.
The company, a division of Bellevue-based PACCAR, is closing its division headquarters in Algona, Washington, later this year. The closure affects 140 workers, according to a state WARN listing released Tuesday announcing the official job cuts.
The layoffs are set for three rounds starting May 1, with the final round scheduled for near the end of August, according to the state notification.
A representative who answered at the Algona office referred all questions to a PACCAR representative, who declined comment about the move or whether transfers were offered to the Algona workers.
The Dynacraft 83,000-square-foot facility in Algona provides components, kits and assemblies for PACCAR’s Seattle‐area and Mexico truck factories, as well as service parts shipments to Western U.S. Kenworth and Peterbilt dealers in the PACCAR Parts direct shipment program.
Amid the Algona cuts, PACCAR has ramped up a new manufacturing facility in McKinney, Texas. That site, which opened in October 2018, also will serve as the new headquarters for Dynacraft, bringing 50 jobs, according to the city of McKinney.
The company was provided $3.3 million in incentives, including a land transfer valued at $1.1 million for the new facility, as part of an agreement to bring 200 jobs over the next five to six years and capital investments of more than $20 million, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
Initial plans for the move were announced by McKinney city and economic development officials last year. Tuesday’s WARN announcement was the first public listing of the number of jobs to be eliminated in Washington state.
“This is a company that is thriving, investing in our community and has a worldwide reach. I couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome their division headquarters in our great city,” McKinney Mayor George Fuller said at the time of the announcement.
McKinney itself is no stranger to losing major employers.
The new Dynacraft location is just north of a site that once served as the national video/DVD shipping hub serving Blockbuster stores across the country, as well as that company’s headquarters. When it closed in May 2012, 171 workers in McKinney lost their jobs. That didn’t include the headquarters, which was later moved to Colorado.
The former Blockbuster site now is home to operations for Southwest Airlines, a UPS terminal and an International Paper warehouse.
There have been no discussions yet as to what might come next for the Algona site, Mayor David Hill told The News Tribune on Wednesday.
In a statement issued Wednesday about the closure, Hill said:
“Algona regrets that Dynacraft has decided to move its plant to Texas. However, we are confident that the positive business position of Algona will attract another employer.”
He added that the city “is a strategic location with affordable, family friendly housing.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 5:20 AM.
