FORT KENT – Kent Inc., a maker of children’s wear, has acquired two contracts that could keep the 185 jobs at the manufacturing plant in place through much of next year, if the company’s cash flow problems can be alleviated.

The company has acquired a contract to assemble and sew Kevlar jumpsuits for the U.S. Air Force, company owner Michael Gans said Wednesday afternoon. The contract came to Kent from another Maine company that cannot keep up with its production demands.

Gans also said he had acquired Wednesday morning “the largest-ever single order” for the company. He said the order for blanket sleepers was the biggest he has landed in 40 years in the industry.

“We have the Air Force contract, and we have the blanket-sleeper contract,” he said. “Those are enough to keep our workers going for half the year in 2003.

“However, we have not been able to take care of the problem that we had in September, the cash flow situation,” he said. “That is still with us, and time is running out.”

A $1.2 million plan was discussed on Sept. 20 with state and county officials. The plan included use of $1 million from the Aroostook County Empowerment Zone funding, which had been expected in October. That funding would have been supplemented by $200,000 from a state Community Development Block Grant Program.

Nothing, however, has happened in Washington to fund the empowerment zone, as federal focus has been taken over by the situation in Iraq, the November elections and homeland security.

Congress is in recess until after the first of the year, and there have been no funding riders on approved legislation. It now will be six weeks before anything is known on funding for the Aroostook County zone.

Gans has a major meeting in early December to assess the Kent Inc. situation. He declined to say with whom the meeting would be.

Legislators have been supportive and willing to help, but the political situation has not been right, according to Gans.

“The good news is we have profitable business, but we are running out of cash,” Gans said. “We are cutting expenses, we have a business plan, and our beliefs can be validated.

“Unless I can find a way to finance the ongoing business, there may be layoffs,” he said. “I need an asset-based lender; I need what was discussed in September to make this happen.”

Creative Apparel in Belfast is furnishing the raw materials to Kent for the Air Force contract. Kent eventually could be making hundreds of suits each week. The Fort Kent plant started sewing for the Belfast company this week.

Gans said the contract with the Maine-based company is good for one year, and Kent Inc. is looking to re-train people for the new product. The Belfast company loaned Kent Inc. some of the needed equipment.

“This is profitable and provides us with some cash flow,” Gans said.

The new order acquired Thursday morning, from a company he wouldn’t name, is for Kent’s major product, the blanket sleeper. That is the product on which the company’s business plan is based.

The company president said the order would take care of half of Kent’s capacity for 2003.

“We have plenty of work, but our primary banker is losing patience with us,” Gans said. “They were told in September that things would happen, and we have been stalled.”

The company is at “a critical point right now,” he said.