By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer
Firestone Industrial Products in Williamsburg announced Tuesday the elimination of five salaried positions and 20 production jobs.
The Williamsburg action came along with the layoff of 14 employees at the Dyersburg, Tenn., location.
The reductions of work force were effective on Wednesday.
Officials in the Firestone Indianapolis district office said the move to eliminate the 39 jobs is a response to the economic downturn and its effect on truck and trailer production.
The Williamsburg and Dyersburg plants each manufacture air springs and other products related to a variety of light- and heavy-duty vehicle suspension applications.
“We are eliminating the positions entirely because of the sharp decline in demand in the truck and trailer market,” said Christina D. Gaines, Firestone public affairs director. She called the decision difficult to make, “but it was necessary to better align our human resources with the scale of our operations and to ensure our ongoing viability.”
The company’s Noblesville, Ind., plant, which employed some 300 persons, will close at the end of this month. Orders that would have been filled in Noblesville were moved to Dyersburg and Williamsburg.
Even with those orders, the hours of employees in both cities were cut in an effort to reduce production and costs without having to reduce positions.
That bought Firestone a bit more time, but more than that was needed because of the shortage of orders.
“The production adjustment is intended to help realign production levels with demand and to maintain responsible inventory targets through a time of substantial decline in the truck and trailer market,” Gaines said. “We will continue to evaluate the marketplace and adjust our production levels accordingly.”
Firestone has manufacturing facilities in Poland, Brazil and Costa Rica, an assembly plant in China and a joint venture in India.
“Most of the other facilities are newer, so they are not as ramped up as the Dyersburg and Williamsburg plants. They have not yet had the chance to expand,” Gaines said.
The workers affected in Williamsburg and Dyersburg will be eligible for unemployment insurance, three months of medical coverage and COBRA after that.
Local News
Williamsburg Firestone cuts 25 jobs
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