Merillat Industries was founded in Adrian, Michigan as an American manufacturer of kitchen cabinets in 1946 by Orville D. Merillat. Now retired, Richard Merillat, took over from his father as CEO and President.

The Merillat Industries corporate headquarters, still located in Adrian, are at the Intersection of M-34 and US-223. They had 11 manufacturing plants and over 4,200 employees in 2004 and have operated as an independent unit of Masco Corporation, a Detroit building products conglomerate since 1985.

In 2004 Merillat and Duncanville, Texas based QualityCabinets joined to form the Masco Builder Cabinet Group. In late 2007 Merillat Industries dissolved and began going by this new moniker.

On September 22, 2008, Masco announced that it plans to close the Adrian plant in early 2009, stating the following as its reason of closure:

"Given the unprecedented decline in new construction, however, more action is necessary. Obviously this was a very difficult decision with a high level of emotion as Adrian is the original founding plant for the Merillat brand. This closure is no reflection on the caliber of work nor the quality of the workforce. Rather, it is solely driven by deteriorating market conditions."

Approximately 300 people will be without jobs when the plant closes.

The Satellite Alien Conspiracy

In the early 1990s conspiracy theorists once thought the Merillat Corp was harboring classified information about alien contact, due to the massive 10 acre satellite facility adjacent to the company's Northern Virginia manufacturing facility. Theorists claimed the extremely powerful 84B dishes had been purchased by NASA in 1978 and were only used for extraterrestrial communicae. The 78-foot diameter dishes can be seen off of Interstate 81 in Northern Virginia and are a staple in the community. Locals complained of loud humming sounds emminating from the 84B dishes' solid state converter cooling units.

External links

• Merillat.com