I noticed on another recent thread that someone was having a hard time removing trailer mats. So, I thought I would pass on this tip: use a pair of average sized vice grips to lock onto and grab the mat. The job will be much easier than before for manuvering and pulling although, they will still be heavy! If ya got help use two vice grips (and two people) then the job will be a breeze!

The easier it is to do this job the more likely it will be that the job will be done for routine trailer maintenace.

Just be carefull not to adjust the vice grips too tight as that can dammage the mat, or even tear away the piece that you grip on.

Vice grips are the easiest as said above - just be carefull

Hurry and buy your Vice-Grips before it's too late!!

Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt to close

By RICHARD PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star

Newell Rubbermaid, the owner of the historic Vise-Grip brand and its plant in DeWitt, will tell the remaining 300-plus employees next week the plant is closing at the end of October, sources told the Journal Star.

The production will be transferred, at least in part, to China.

And with it will go a piece of Nebraska’s 20th century industrial legacy — and a big part of the village of DeWitt’s livelihood and history.

If true, the closing is bound to be devastating for the Saline County village of 572, and for its region. DeWitt is about 16 miles northwest of Beatrice.

The Journal Star learned of the closing from an employee and a Nebraska civic leader. Both asked not be identified for fear of retaliation against plant employees.

Others plant workers told the Beatrice Daily Sun newspaper they have signed agreements not to disclose company information or risk being fired.

Employees were expecting a meeting this week to announce news at the plant, an employee told the Journal Star, but it was postponed until Wednesday.

Village Board Chairman Randy Badman said the village has not been officially informed of anything. But he acknowledged the rumors and the common knowledge that employees expect an announcement next week.

The state of Nebraska’s Workforce Development reaction team is expected to be at the plant next week to help people losing their jobs, the employee said.

But Terry Johnston, director of administrative services, for the state’s Workforce Development agency, said she had no indication the state’s team was alerted to the closing.

“I haven’t seen anything in that regard,” she said.

Under federal law,  in most circumstances, companies are required to give the state and employees 60 days notice of a plant closing. The meeting Wednesday would be just short of 60 days to the end of October.

Company spokesman Ira Gleser refused to comment on what he called speculation and rumor about the plant. He would not confirm or deny plans for an employee meeting next week.

Public discussion of the plant’s future intensified after Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Kleeb visited July 8 and talked to employees about the uncertainty they faced, said his campaign director, Joe Zepecki.

In a press release after he visited the plant, Kleeb said: “The rumor on the shop floor is that, despite increased productivity and nearly a century’s worth of community ties, this facility may soon be closed and production shipped overseas.”

Kleeb brought up the uncertainty of the plant’s future in a recent debate with Republican candidate Mike Johanns, according to a transcript provided by Zapecki.

Vise-Grip has a celebrated history in DeWitt and Nebraska.

Danish immigrant Bill Petersen developed his first pair of locking pliers in 1915, according to popular histories. He patented the device in 1924 and began production at his blacksmith shop in DeWitt.

By 1928, the company had more than 600 employees.

When Petersen died in 1962, his family took over.

Peterson’s daughter, Harriet Fort, still lives in DeWitt. A son, Richard, died in 2006.

In 1985, Richard’s son, Allen Petersen, bought his family’s interests and the business was renamed American Tool Companies. Allen Petersen died in November in Chicago.

American Tool sold out in 2002 to Newell Rubbermaid, a minority owner since 1985. Since then, the DeWitt plant has operated under the name of Irwin Industrial Tools, a company American Tool bought in 1993.

Not quite a century after the tool rose in popularity among professional and amateur mechanics, things started fading, Journal Star archives show.

In 2003, the company closed divisions in Beatrice, idling 200 people there.

American Tools called that closing a “streamlining initiative designed to help the company control costs and remain competitive in global markets.”

The DeWitt plant still employed 500 people then.

In 2005, the future of the plant and the jobs of more than 400 people who still worked there appeared uncertain after Newell Rubbermaid announced a plan to lay off 5,000 of 31,000 employees worldwide and to close one-third of its 80 factories.

A market analyst who followed the company then, Eric Bosshard, said the DeWitt operation was too valuable to close.

“Do you have a Vise-Grip? They’re not going to get rid of Vise-Grip,” said Bosshard at the time.

“That’s one of their growth businesses. They love the tool business.”

In March 2007, the company announced it would continue to assemble and package Vise-Grips at DeWitt, but it would outsource manufacturing of the components. That cost more jobs.

Vise-Grip is one part of one brand, Irwin, that is among six tool brands produced by Newell Rubbermaid, more well known for its food containers.

On its financial reports, the tools and hardware division shows a slight decline in sales so far this year, and a slight gain in operating income, before restructuring charges are allocated.

As early as 2005, the stock analyst Bosshard recognized circumstances didn’t assure the Vise-Grip factory’s continued operation in the place it is now.

“One could ask if they’ll continue to make Vise-Grips in DeWitt, Nebraska,” Bosshard said then.

Not for long, as it turns out.

Not to hi-jack this thread, but more jobs going to China infuriates me. Where do these company think the money will come from to buy their products??? So many jobs have gone overseas, that it is hard to buy anything american made let alone have a job and make and honest dollar to buy products. My family has stopped buying anything made in China or other foreign countries. Very hard, especially at wal-mart, target etc, but we are doing it.

I even noticed this weekend while at the grocery store that Best Choice Apple juice had concentrate from China. Didn't know China had apple orchards!!! What the heck is wrong with good ol' USA apples??? Yes the product was cheaper, but at what cost to a USA apple grower. I opted for a little more expensive USA made juice.

A very easy way to move mats was previously presented by another forum member. Drill a 1'4" hole in the corners of your mats. Take a wooden handle hay hook and insert it into the hole. The "tee" handle affords a very secure grip that's comfortable, and makes it very easy to exert a significant amount of effort.

I previously was unable to reinstall the mats by myself, because I have a poor grip strength in one hand. I have many types of vice grips, including the wide blade welder's type that work the best of them. Even using them, I was unable to do the job. The hay hooks enable me to easily effect the pulling I need, to get the mats back into the trailer.

BOL  Gard