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Imation Closes North Dakota Plant

Data-storage product maker has shuttered its floppy diskette plant in Wahpeton and will transfer ownership of its buildings to the city this week, the company says.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- Imation Corp. has shuttered its floppy diskette plant in Wahpeton and will transfer ownership of its buildings to the city this week, its spokesman says.

"We are out of the place," said Brad Allen, an Imation spokesman at the company's headquarters in Oakdale, Minn.

Imation will keep a few workers in place to help a group of former employees who have taken over some of the company's contracts, Allen said Monday.

"We have no operations there, per se," he said.

Imation, which makes data-storage products, announced last year that it would phase out the Wahpeton plant's nearly 390 jobs by mid-2009 as part of a companywide restructuring.

The startup of ComDel by former Imation employees allowed Imation to close by the end of 2008, since ComDel now has taken over some of the contracts, officials of both companies said.

State Commerce Commissioner Shane Goettle said ComDel now employs about 145 people, many of whom had worked for Imation.

"It's going pretty well," said Jim Albrecht, ComDel's president and one of the former Imation employees. ComDel had projected that it would employ about 90 people by year's end.

"We have a lot more than expected and that's a good thing," Albrecht said.

Other employers in town have added about 150 other workers since Imation announced it would close, Goettle said.

Imation had been the second-largest employer in the southeastern North Dakota community of about 8,500. Officials said its plant, owned earlier by 3M, opened in Wahpeton three decades ago.

Albrecht said ComDel is doing contract work for Imation and 3M.

Imation has received millions of dollars in local, state and federal grants and guaranteed loans to expand its Wahpeton plant. The company plans to transfer ownership of two buildings in Wahpeton to the city on Thursday. One building the company used was owned by the city.

Allen said Imation no longer has a financial obligation tied to the Wahpeton plant.

"I believe that we have essentially cleaned up all of those obligations by transferring the property," he said. "That will effectively end our obligation to the state, the community development corporation, or anybody."

Goettle said Imation still must pay $400,000 over the next two years in lease payments on the now-vacant buildings. He said Imation's lease obligation will be reduced if the buildings are used by other businesses.

At least 25 companies have visited the old Imation campus, Goettle said. One company, which he would not name, is "more than just a tire-kicker," he said.

Imation still owns 35 acres of undeveloped land near its old facility, though Goettle said it is not part of any deal with the city or state. The land is now leased for farming, he said.

Imation announced last month that it plans to cut 200 sales, administrative and technology jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring. That is "additional restructuring" after the Wahpeton changes, Allen said.

The company has one remaining manufacturing plant in Weatherford, Okla., Allen said. No manufacturing jobs there will be cut, he said.

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