ASHLAND — Baker & Taylor Publisher Services in Ashland expects to create 40 to 50 manufacturing jobs by the end of this month, all of which will be posted on the company’s career website.
That’s quite a turnaround for a company that was bracing for the shedding of jobs just a couple of months ago.
The reversal comes in the wake of Lakeside Book Company acquiring Baker & Taylor Publisher Services in November, as Baker & Taylor began ceasing operations after 200 years in business.
The move came after ReaderLink Distribution Services tried to acquire Baker & Taylor in September and the deal fell through.
Without the new buyer, Baker & Taylor was unable to continue operations due to persistent financial trouble, according to American Libraries Magazine, and thus forced to close.
Baker & Taylor began laying off employees in October at other locations across the country, including Illinois and South Carolina.
The same fate was headed for the Ashland manufacturing location, at 30 Amberwood Parkway, which has operated the facility since taking it over from Bookmasters roughly 10 years ago.
“Frankly, absent of this deal, the doors would have been closed in Ashland too. There was no way for that to continue on,” Shea said.
Ashland’s location was unique because it offered sales services to medium-sized publishers who lack their own sales and marketing teams, providing things such as marketing, processing orders, shipping books and more.
This was a key feature that interested Illinois-based Lakeside Book Company to take over the facility on Nov. 21.
“They’ve got a sales team that can go out and sell books into the marketplace and we think that’s an additional service offering that we can provide to our existing warehouse customers,” Shea said.
The facility is 240,000 square feet, split between book manufacturing, warehousing and distribution activities.
The Ashland location was also legally a separate entity from Baker & Taylor because of those features, which allowed for the seamless transition, Shea said.
Shea could not disclose how much the purchase cost.
Lakeside Book is a book manufacturer and distributor founded in 1864 that ships approximately 400 million books per year for customers, according to President of Book Services Micheal Shea.
The takeover will continue all previous services offered by Baker & Taylor, and the roughly 100 employees who work there were all rehired as Lakeside employees.
“Our goal is to continue to invest in Ashland. We’re very excited about the team there,” Shea said.
The plan is to grow the manufacturing operations, which will create new second and third shifts, Shea noted.
“Lakeside’s a great company to work for. So, we’re excited about expanding our team into Ashland,” Shea said.
So far, he said the employees who were rehired are excited about the change.
Eventually, a new sign will crown the outside of the facility.