By Julie Forster, SOURCE: Pioneer Press

02/15/2012 — For the third time since the Great Depression, window and door-maker Andersen Corp. has informed its employees that they won’t be getting the company’s once traditional profit-sharing checks.

A continuing housing slump and the expiration of two tax credits that temporarily boosted door and window sales have put a crimp in business.

“The company does remain profitable and we do continue to invest in important growth initiatives,” said Laurie Bauer, a company spokeswoman. “Unfortunately we did not achieve the threshold of profitability required to pay profit sharing.”

The profit-sharing check has long been a tradition at Andersen, dating back to 1914. The three times since the Depression that the company missed the payments were for the past three consecutive years: 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Last year was not a good one for Andersen. The Bayport-based company terminated 250 employees in December and in recent years has consolidated plants and distribution centers, shortened work weeks, limited travel expenses and undergone multiple rounds of layoffs.

A tax credit for the installation of energy-efficient windows had generated significant business in 2009 and 2010, softening the blow of the housing market, but the credit expired in 2011.

Andersen has 9,000 employees, with about 4,000 of them in Minnesota.

Marvin Windows and Doors, based in Warroad, Minn., did not distribute profit-sharing checks for 2011 either.

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