In this week's issue:
- Wallboard manufacturers are remodeling their operations as new housing starts plummet.
- Plus, a whole new round of major U.S. corporation closures and layoffs were announced California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
Sheeeet!
With the collapse of the new housing market, sheetrock manufacturers are having to remodel their operations. In the past couple of weeks, the big names in the gypsum business have announced plant shutdowns and production slowdowns.
Georgia-Pacific is laying off 60 employees from its Brunswick, GA, Gypsum plant, and 30 Brunswick cellulose employees furloughed through the holidays because of a production slowdown.
Georgia-Pacific's wallboard production will be shut down indefinitely, the company said in a release.
As part of the USG Corp.'s steps to adjust operations, it is cutting its wallboard production by 1 billion square feet and closing two other plants. It plans to permanently or temporarily close wallboard manufacturing lines at United States Gypsum Co.’s Plaster City, CA; Jacksonville, FL; Baltimore, MD; and Stony Point, NY, plants.
In addition, it will do the same for its cement board manufacturing line at its Santa Fe Springs, CA, plant and its Delavan, WI, substrate plant.
Separately, Ply Gem Industries Inc. said it intends to close its Hammonton, NJ, and Phoenix, AZ, window and door manufacturing facilities that combined employ approximately 306 employees. Ply Gem is one of the country’s leading manufacturers of residential exterior building products.
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Closures & Layoffs
Citigroup Inc. is planning on eliminating some 53,000 more jobs in the coming quarters. The banking company said total headcount is being reduced by 20% from its peak of 375,000 at the end of 2007; the company had already announced in October that it was eliminating about 22,000 jobs from those levels. The total workforce reductions include thousands of jobs that will be lost when Citigroup completes the sale of Citi Global Services and its German retail banking business.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
California.
- Actel Corp. is laying off 54 employees on 12/15/2008 at 2061 Stierlin Court in Mountain View.
- Activision Blizzard is laying off 23 employees on 12/19/2008 at 6060 Center Drive, 5th Floor in Los Angeles.
- AIGM and 21st Century Insurance Co. is closing down and laying off 106 employees on 12/26/2008 at 1800 East Imperial Highway, Suite 100 in Brea.
- AT&T Messaging is closing down and laying off 39 employees on 12/23/2008 at 2623 Camino Ramon in San Ramon.
- Capital Beverage Co. has started laying off 100 employees at 2424 Del Monte St. in West Sacramento.
- Castaic Brick is laying off 77 employees on 12/24/2008 at 32201 Castaic Lake Drive in Castaic.
- Chase Home Lending is closing down and laying off 58 employees on 12/5/2008 at 2633 Camino Ramon in San Ramon.
- Conagra Foods Inc. is closing down and laying off 23 employees on 12/12/2008 at 200 Boysenberry Lane in Placentia.
- Dealtree Inc. is laying off 82 employees on 12/6/2008 at 16901 Jamboree Road in Irvine.
- Electronic Arts Inc. is laying off 56 employees at 5510 Lincoln Blvd. in Playa Vista, 49 employees at 1100 Glendale Ave. 19th Floor, in Los Angeles and 48 employees at 209 Redwood Shores Parkway in Redwood City on 12/31/2008.
- E-Loan Inc. is laying off 270 employees on 12/22/2008 at 6230 Stoneridge Mall Road in Pleasanton.
- Epicor Software Corp. at 195 Technology Drive in Irvine is laying off about 10% of its workforce of about 280 employees.
- Goldenpark LLC is closing down and started laying off 114 employees at 13111 Sycamore Drive in Norwalk.
- Goodrich Aerostructures Inc. has started laying off 87 employees at 850 Lagoon Drive in Chula Vista.
- GPSG North America is laying off 40 employees on 12/19/2008 at 700 Eubanks Drive in Vacaville.
- Health Care Group is laying off 70 employees at 2640 Honolulu Ave. in Montrose, 237 employees at 5480 Marengo Ave. in La Mesa, 208 employees at 760 E. Bobier Drive in Vista, 123 employees at 1088 Laguna Drive in Carlsbad, 49 employees at 4960 Mills St. in San Diego and 40 employees at 3423 Channel Way in La Mesa on 12/15/2008.
- Hemet Valley Skilled Nursing Facility is closing down and started laying off 104 employees at 1117 E. Devonshire Ave. in Hemet.
- Hemosense Inc. is closing down and started laying off 29 employees at 651 River Oaks Parkway in San Jose.
- Hubbell Lenoir City Inc. is closing down and laying off 88 employees on 12/31/2008 at 615 North King Road in San Jose.
- International Paper Co. is closing down and laying off 86 employees on 12/5/2008 at 10555 Iona Ave. in Hanford.
- Kmart Store #4240 is closing down and laying off 89 employees on 12/14/2008 at 19600 Plummer St. in Northridge.
- Los Angeles Times is laying off 69 employees on 12/19/2008 at 202 West First St. in Los Angeles.
- The Newark Group Inc. will shutdown its solidboard plant at 2121 W. Almond Ave. (48,687 square feet) in Madera due to the lack of business and production is expected to cease by Jan. 15.
- NYK Logistics (Americas) Inc. has started laying off 142 employees at 2417 East Carson St., Ste. 100 in Long Beach.
- Pacific Clay Products is laying off 106 employees on 12/22/2008 at 14741 Lake St. in Lake Elsinore.
- Pearson Ford will merge and relocate its operations San Diego operations at Fairmount and El Cajon boulevards to Kearny Mesa Ford at 7303 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. in Kearny Mesa.
- Philips Lumileds Lighting Co. is closing down and laying off 64 employees on 12/12/2008 at 370 W. Trimble Road in San Jose.
- Rays Apparel Inc. is closing down and laying off 62 employees on 12/13/2008 at 20 Goodyear in Irvine.
- Riverside Cement Co. is laying off 85 employees at 1500 Rubidoux Blvd. in Riverside and 84 employees at 19409 National Trail Hwy in Oro Grande on 12/19/2008.
- Seton Medical Center is laying off 60 employees on 12/29/2008 at 45 Southgate Ave., Suite 200 in Daly City.
- Shurflo LLC is closing down and laying off 15 employees on 12/20/2008 at 5900 Katella Ave. in Cypress.
- United is laying off 107 employees at Los Angeles Int'l Airport in Los Angeles and 499 employees at San Francisco Int'l Airport in San Francisco on 12/7/2008.
- Vical Inc. at 10390 Pacific Center Court in San Diego is cutting staff by 29 employees, approximately 20% of its total workforce, and has accelerated the closure of a research facility.
- Vicorp Restaurants Inc. is closing down and laying off 117 employees on 12/23/2008 at 12865 Ann St. in Santa Fe Springs.
- West Marine Products Inc. is laying off 390 employees on 12/25/2008 at 500 Westridge Drive in Watsonville.
Imperial Industries Inc. completed the closure of a poorly performing distribution facility at 5724 Adamo Drive (14,671 square feet) in
Tampa, FL, in November.
Cognex Corp. is closing its facility at 1855 Satellite Blvd., Suite 100, in
Duluth, GA by the middle of next year and eliminating about 60 full-time positions.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
Illinois.
- The Brose Group will consolidate several door and latch module production programs in to its newest plant in Warren, MI. Brose's Chicago location at 12543 S. Burley Ave. will be most affected by the changes.
- Sara Lee Corp. will close its kosher hot dog and meat processing facility by Jan. 30. Sara Lee has decided to exit the kosher meat business, and discontinue processing and distributing products made under all of its kosher meat brands, including Best’s Kosher, Sinai Kosher, Shofar and Wilno. The closure of the Chicago facility at 1000 W. Pershing Road will result in a workforce reduction of approximately 185 employees. In addition, the company will also close the Sinai Kosher outlet store located on the premises.
Getrag Transmission Manufacturing LLC filed for protection under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code for its
Tipton, IN, facility. The GTM LLC facility in Tipton was being constructed for the sole purpose of manufacturing dual clutch transmissions for Chrysler LLC (Chrysler). This Ch. 11 action is a direct result of a recent termination by Chrysler of contractual agreements related to the construction and operation of a dual clutch transmission manufacturing facility in Tipton.
International Paper is planning the indefinite closure of its mill in
Bastrop, LA. The decision to idle the 100 percent pulp mill operation will affect approximately 550 employees.
Akamai Technologies Inc. in
Cambridge, MA, plans to lay off 110 employees, or 7% of its worldwide employee population by the end of the year.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
North Carolina.
- Hanesbrands Inc. at 1000 E. Hanes Mill Road in Winston-Salem is eliminating approximately 210 positions in management and corporate functions. About half of the cutbacks are being made in the company’s supply chain management organization and half in the corporate functions of customer management, finance, human resources, information technology and marketing. Of the 210 positions, approximately 155 are located in Winston-Salem, 35 at various other U.S. locations, and 20 at international locations. The company also announced that it would close by year-end its yarn production plant in China Grove, NC. The closure will affect 185 employees.
- MeadWestvaco Corp. will discontinue operations at its MWV Packaging plant at 790 N. Battleground Ave. in Grover. Some production at this facility will transfer to other MWV Packaging plants, and the company’s capacity to supply these products will not be affected. Closure of the Grover facility, expected by early 2009 and will result in the layoff of 120 hourly and salaried employees.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
New York.
- Minrad International Inc. in Orchard Park will reduce its workforce by approximately 35% or 50 positions. This reduction in workforce will affect positions in company locations including Pennsylvania, New York and other geographies.
- The Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. in Somers plans to eliminate about 750 jobs in the U.S. and Canada, but provided no details of where or when those cuts will occur.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
Ohio.
- Dana Corp. at 4500 Dorr St. in Toledo is now planning on closing up 10 plants in 2009 and 2010 an increase from earlier plans. The decision will result in the layoff of another 2,000 employees. Previous plans included the layoff of 3,000 people. Dana said it will be evaluating its options for its sealing, thermal and structural products division.
- New Generation Biofuels Holdings Inc. will move its existing Twin Rivers biofuel pilot facility from Cincinnati to Baltimore, MD.
Boise Paper Holdings LLC will close its
St. Helens Mill, OR, starting Jan. 17 and will lay off 300 workers.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
South Carolina.
- 3D Systems Corp. has begun a reduction in its workforce that will affect about 25 people out of its worldwide workforce of 360, including five employees from its Rock Hill, SC, headquarters at 333 Three D Systems Circle.
- Solutia Inc. is restructuring its nylon business and has begun reporting results from that segment as discontinued operations. It plans to decrease production temporarily throughout the Nylon chain -- from intermediate chemicals to fibers and resins. It will also permanently shutdown its bulk continuous filament (BCF) carpet fiber plant in Greenwood. These assets had already been idled earlier this month.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
Texas.
- Arbitron Inc.'s Southwest call center at 6464 Savoy Drive in Houston suffered severe damage from Hurricane Ike in September rendering non-operational. Arbitron has now decided that resuming operations from the center is not possible and will close down operations there by the end of year, putting 269 part-time and 29 full-time employees out of work
- Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. is closing its bottling plant at 1 Coca-Cola Drive in Sulphur Springs on Jan. 17, laying off 32 employees.
- Trinity Industries Inc. is closing its tank car plant at 617 E. Sycamore in Denton on Jan. 13, laying off 71 employees.
- Wells Fargo Home & Finance Group is laying off 67 employees in its auto finance operations at 1111 W. Mockingbird Lane, Suite 111, in Dallas by Jan. 10.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
Washington.
- ABX Air Inc. is closing down and laying off 52 workers at 208 Maurin Road in Chehalis on Jan. 13.
- DHL Express is closing down and laying off 255 employees at various locations in Kent, Bothell, Bellevue, Fife and Seattle by Jan. 18.
- Kenworth Truck Co. is laying off 430 workers at 1601 N. 8th St. in Renton on Jan. 16.
The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in
Wisconsin.
- Miniature Precision Components will lay off 94 employees on or around Jan. 20 at 63095 Vineyard Road in Prairie du Chien.
- Viasystems will close its manufacturing and distribution facility at 10001 S. Howell Ave. in Oak Creek in January, resulting in permanent layoff of 238 employees. Layoffs will occur in phases, starting Jan. 19, 2009, and ending no later than May 31, 2009.
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