Newell Rubbermaid Buys Out Jarden Corp.

The parent companies of two of Shelbyville’s major employers are combining in a $13.2 billion deal.
Newell Rubbermaid, which operates packaging and distribution centers on Railroad Avenue, is buying Jarden Corp. It was only two months ago that Jarden reached an agreement to buy Jostens, which has a plant on Union Street. The sale of Jostens to Jarden closed in November.
Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association (mtida.org), in its 2015 community data profile, lists Newell Rubbermaid as having 800 employees in Shelbyville and Jostens as having 375.
Jostens has operated in Shelbyville since 1960, producing school diplomas and other recognition products.
Newell Rubbermaid, through various acquisitions, is the heir to a company many remember as Empire Pencil Company.
The company used to have a manufacturing plant on Pencil Street in Shelbyville, but a re-organization of the company’s manufacturing workflow resulted in that plant closing, so the company no longer has any manufacturing presence in Shelbyville. A state-of-the-art Liquid Manufacturing and Technology Center (LMTC) is now located in Coffee County’s Interstate Industrial Park in Manchester, Tenn. The Liquid Manufacturing and Technology Center manufactures ink for the company’s office products brands. (Shelbyville Times-Gazette)