A.O. Smith to close: Local plant to shut down by end of year
After years of speculation, A.O. Smith made it official yesterday.
Company officials announced plans to completely close the local facility which currently employs 160. Employees were called to a meeting Tuesday afternoon around 3 p.m. and told the news.
Jobs will begin leaving the local plant in a few weeks and the plant is scheduled to be totally shut down by the end of the year.
?This has been an extremely difficult decision to make given the history of this plant and the quality of our employees,? said A.O. Smith president Christopher Mapes. ?Since 2001, we have taken a number of actions designed to enhance the competitiveness of our McMinnville operation. Unfortunately, we have not been able to achieve the results we need to remain competitive and have concluded we must take the action of discontinuing operations in McMinnville and closing the facility.?
A.O. Smith employed over 900 people about six years ago, but steady layoffs have dwindled the local workforce to a fraction of that. Prior to yesterday, A.O. Smith officials had firmly maintained there were no plans to close the local plant. Still, employees were not stunned by the news.
?We all kind of expected it to go out eventually,? said employee Manuel Madewell. ?So it?s not a big surprise to us, although I thought we might be able to hold on till next year. I hate it because it?s more jobs going out of Warren County and there aren?t a lot of jobs here right now.?
A.O. Smith spokesman Mark Petrarca said the jobs would not be sent overseas, but instead be sent to different plants in North America. He said company officials would be discussing more specific timetables with employees in the coming days.
?We?ve been fighting a good fight to stay competitive, but we just couldn?t get there,? said Petrarca. ?This isn?t a reflection of the people in McMinnville. It?s a result of our business.?
The local plant assembles integral horsepower motors and fabricates laminations used in manufacturing electric motors.