Closure, layoffs signaled at Republic plant

Last edited 2:05 p.m., Jan. 16, 2025 [Information about the ownership has been added.]

A supply chain management company is closing a Republic plant that started under the umbrella of Mercy less than a decade ago but has since changed ownership.

St. Louis-based Resource Optimization & Innovation LLC, a division of Nashville, Tennessee-based HealthTrust, is permanently winding down operations at the 3000 E. Sawyer Road facility, with 109 employees impacted, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed with the state of Missouri on Jan. 7. The WARN notice was made public by the state yesterday. The job separations are scheduled for three stages on March 7, April 4 and April 18.

A reason was not given for the closure of the facility, which operates in Republic as ROi CPS LLC. A company official listed in the WARN notice could not be reached for comment by deadline.

ROi's website indicates the company supplies health systems with medical supplies and custom procedure trays under its Regard brand, and it offers end-to-end supply chain solutions. The website also lists a facility in Springfield at 2909 N. Neergard Ave.

Mercy broke ground on the $10 million, 100,000-square-foot manufacturing center on Sawyer Road in 2016, completing the work in 2017, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. The Resource Optimization & Innovation business was founded in 2002 by Mercy to buy supplies directly from manufacturers and distribute those goods to system facilities.

HealthTrust bought St. Louis-based Resource Optimization & Innovation in 2019, when ROi's members included Mercy, Orlando Health Inc. and Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, according to HealthTrust's website. ROi CPS LLC was established at that time as a custom procedure tray operation, offering customized surgical packs tailored for clinical end-users, with majority ownership by HealthTrust and a minority stake held by Mercy and other former ROi owners.

Mercy continues to hold a minority stake in ROi, said Ettie Berneking, spokesperson for the health system.