Oreck Corporation, the Nashville-based manufacturer of upright vacuums and other cleaning products, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and is looking for a buyer. A Chapter 11 filing will allow the company to consolidate its assets and restructure its finances in an effort to sell the company, according to a statement the company.

Oreck said that despite the filing, the company will continue daily operations without interruption.

“Oreck will continue to operate in the ordinary course of businesswhile the sale process takes place, with authorized and exclusive dealers and other trade customers continuing to receive product for sale to ultimate consumers,” the company said.

Oreck laid off an undisclosed number of employees at the end of January, as well as in October 2012. At the time, CEO Doug Cahill said the layoffs weren't a cost-cutting maneuver, and were instead a result of a shift away from the company's traditional emphasis on direct sales.

Oreck has about 70 employees in the corporate office in Nashville, and itemploys 250 workers at its plant in Cookeville. In additional, the company has about 325 employees at its 96 company-owned retail stores.

The company said that it anticipates that after the sale, plant operations and corporate headquarters will stay in Tennessee.

Oreck was founded in in 1963 by David Oreck, who started by selling vacuum cleaners by mail. He started the company by buying an abandoned design for an upright vacuum cleaner from Whirlpool. He eventually built a distribution and manufacturing facility in New Orleans, where the company was based for several decades.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the company began to shift operations to Tennessee. While the corporate headquarters is in Nashville, the company’s major presence in Tennessee is at a manufacturing facility in Cookeville, which it opened in 2007.