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PPG cutting 110 jobs in Triad
Davidson County fiberglass plant hit
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Published: April 28, 2009
A Davidson County manufacturing plant received another in a long line of employment blows yesterday.
PPG Industries Inc. said that it is eliminating 110 jobs, or 26 percent, of the work force at its fiberglass plant in Lexington. The job cuts will be effective June 30, spokesman Jeremy Neuhart said.
When the work-force reduction is done, the plant will have about 310 employees -- or about 1,000 fewer than it had in June 1998. The plant experienced a 400-job cut in August 2001 and several smaller job cuts over the past 11 years.
Neuhart said that the consolidation primarily affects production of its wind-energy products.
"This action is the result of a decline in the wind-energy market," Neuhart said. "The credit crunch is making it more difficult for companies wanting to invest in wind energy to get the capital they need. They are not able to invest in projects as robustly as they were."
PPG announced last week that it was cutting 90 jobs at the plant of its Fiber Glass Products subsidiary in Shelby. It also said it was putting on hold plans to spend $20.5 million to expand that plant and add 120 jobs over the next three years. It is eligible for a $300,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund for that project, which the governor can provide to existing businesses or businesses opening operations in the state.
The company, based in Pittsburgh, has 140 manufacturing plants and operations in more than 60 countries, including an industrial-paint plant in Greensboro.
The decision is the latest manufacturing hit that Davidson has taken in this decade.
The pace of furniture-manufacturing job cuts has slowed recently because there are no large plants left in the county. Most of the major plants were closed between 2001 and 2008.
Still, at least 1,060 manufacturing jobs have been cut in Davidson in the past 16 months, according to data from the N.C. Employment Security Commission.
■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
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