Serta factory prepares to move

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

As construction continues at the old Kewaunee building on FM 20 East, representatives from Dormae Products, Ltd. (Serta) have been in Lockhart searching for employees.
“Right now, we have only a few that are telling us that they aren’t going to move with us,” said Human Resources Director Sheila Fisher. “But once

we get to Lockhart and get moving, we’re going to lose some of them through attrition that don’t want to make that commute.”
The Serta factory will be moving to the Lockhart location from their existing facility on McNeil Drive in North Austin.
Fisher was in Lockhart on Thursday conducting a job fair at the Texas Workforce Commission, because the company is looking for a number of people to fill immediate positions.
“Right now, we’re looking for people to work in production and in shipping and receiving,” she said. “We don’t have administrative or clerical positions right now, but we may in the future.”
The need to increase shipping and receiving and production personnel is based in part on the fact that the company is moving from an eight-bay factory to a 22-bay factory.
Fisher said she was looking for individuals to fill six positions in Lockhart immediately, and several others that will commute to Austin until the move.
“I don’t have a lot of information right now about the positions we’re going to have in Lockhart before the move,” she said. “It’s a recent development that we have not talked about before.”
She speculates, though, that at least six people will be asked to work in Lockhart, setting up factory machines prior to the Nov. 15 move.
“We are ready to move on Nov. 15 and have the line running on Nov. 20,” she noted.
According to representatives of the Texas Workforce Commission, more than 150 area residents attended the job fair on Thursday, which consisted of a series of 15-minute presentations about the company. TWC continues to have applications available for interested candidates.
Construction on the facility is moving forward, according to Lockhart’s economic development department, but contractor and Dormae representative Michael Karotkin has been unavailable via telephone to discuss plans.