Biz Buzz was at Cooper Tire this morning. The company is closing its Albany, Ga., facility.
From Ron Roof, acting Tupelo plant manager:
Every person in the Tupelo plant is happy today to find that our plant will remain open. While we feel saddened for the Cooper employees in Albany who are facing an uncertain future, we know that Cooper will do the right thing to help with their transition.
Tupelo workers have always shown support for Cooper and are willing to step up and help the company that has provided for them. And the Tupelo community showed tremendous support for our company with the financial package that was offered.”
Read our previous coverage about Cooper Tire.
More from Cooper Tire, from its press release:
“The impact on net profit of this closure is estimated to be $150 million to $175 million in restructuring charges, between 50 and 60 percent of which will be non-cash charges. Annual savings after implementation are estimated at between $75 million and $80 million. A portion of these savings will begin to materialize in 2009 as production from the plant is moved to other locations.”
Said Cooper Tire CEO Roy Armes: “This was a difficult decision and we regret the impact it will have on our employees in Albany and the surrounding community. The detailed study we performed was fair, objective and conclusive that we needed to consolidate our capacity and close one of our U.S. facilities. The government and community agencies were actively engaged and involved and offered a high level of support, but the final outcome was clear.”
More from Cooper CEO Armes:
“Employees in Albany were notified of the outcome and will be provided support as the facility winds down operations in the next 12 months. We appreciate the hard work and efforts that our employees have always demonstrated and will assist them where possible through this transition. Unfortunately, this was a very necessary action to position Cooper to compete in a global market environment.”
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The Albany plant was acquired by Cooper in 1990 and has about 1,300 employees. The company said it “intends to realign the mix of products at its remaining U.S. facilities,” which are in Tupelo; Findlay, Ohio; and Texarkana, Ark.
And this tidbit from the Associated Press:
“The company told workers Wednesday that the three remaining plants would move to around-the-clock production, seven days a week, and that staff may be added.”
On a personal note, Biz Buzz wants to temper the excitement that we have in Tupelo, knowing that 1,100 workers and their families in Albany, Ga., will be out of jobs within a year.
So, it’s a mixed blessing of sorts, and right before Christmas. We’re extremely pleased that the 1,200-plus jobs in Tupelo with Cooper Tire will remain, but we and the rest of Northeast Mississippi know all too much about layoffs, and we hate to hear any community having to lose a major employer.
Great news ! This will impact holiday shopping and restore confidence in our regions economy!
While I am so thankful for this news, like buzz said it is a mixed blessing because another community is losing a major employer. These are hard times, but I am very glad that we got some good news in our area for a change…and by the way, did anyone look at the Classified ads this morning? 3 things I saw – Style Line Furniture was hiring in Verona, and Ashley was also hiring. And the third thing, was a “new furniture manufacturer” was coming to Pontotoc and was hiring. Any idea who that could be Dennis or Carlie?
I agree with The Buzz. While this is a great relief to hundreds of families here, there are hundreds of families in Albany, Ga., who just got punched in the stomach. It’s sad that it came to this, but it’s the nature of the economy for now. Not knowing much about Albany other than these statistics (city population of around 76,000; metro population of around 165,000), hopefully there are a few more employers around there who can take on some of the folks who have lost their jobs. With the region being approximately twice the size of Tupelo, I hope it’s the case.
So does this mean if you’re trying to sell your house, there may some imports from Albany looking to buy it?
Dennis,
You also need to check with United Chair in Bruce. It is my understanding that Groupe LaCasse (their owner) is closing (2) plants in Michigan and moving those jobs to Bruce. This could mean 100 to 150 jobs for Bruce.
Thanks for the tip, Jeff. We’ll check it out.
For more info about today’s announcement, including Q&A’s for employees, read this post:
http://tupelobizbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/from-the-horses-mouth/
You can watch the Press Conference held at the Community Development Foundation on the CDF YouTube website now.
http://www.youtube.com/cdfvideo