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Shaw plant closure to claim 270 jobs in US
19 Oct '11
2 min read
Shaw, a leading carpet manufacturing company in north-west Georgia, US, has announced closure of its Riverbend Drive based facility in Dalton, rendering around 270 workers jobless.
For decades, Dalton has been recognised as the country's carpet capital.
It is for the fourth time this year that Shaw has declared layoffs. After the closure of a plant in Chatsworth during April this year, the company announced layoffs at its Eton and Ringgold plants in August.
These closure and layoff are owing to changes that the company is affecting to adapt to production of new filament-based carpet from the earlier spun and stapled yarn carpets. It has affected around 670 workers, who have been either laid off, or there is a reduction in their job hours or they have been shifted to other jobs.
Closure of the Dalton plant is another shock to the region which is already facing high level redundancy. The unemployment rate in the metro area of the region was recorded at 12.1 percent during August this year.
However, Shaw said the firm would continue positioning and bolstering its production base, not just to withstand present day competition, but also to better prepare itself for future growth as situation gets better.
The company said the move is not reflective of overall drop in demand, but it is shifting the production volume from the Dalton facility to other Shaw carpet producing units. It added that it would facilitate a more balanced flow of production alongside better work schedules and efficiencies.
Owing to the economic slowdown and varying customer preferences, Shaw has laid off over 7,000 workers over the last five years. The company employed 31,469 workers in 2006, which was quite close to record high levels.
However, as the housing market started decelerating in 2007, the number of workers in the company was reduced to 30,874, and the number further plummeted to 25,492 in 2009, when the company affected many closures. The company employed 24,552 workers in 2010, while presently it operates with about 24,000 workers.
For decades, Dalton has been recognised as the country's carpet capital.
It is for the fourth time this year that Shaw has declared layoffs. After the closure of a plant in Chatsworth during April this year, the company announced layoffs at its Eton and Ringgold plants in August.
These closure and layoff are owing to changes that the company is affecting to adapt to production of new filament-based carpet from the earlier spun and stapled yarn carpets. It has affected around 670 workers, who have been either laid off, or there is a reduction in their job hours or they have been shifted to other jobs.
Closure of the Dalton plant is another shock to the region which is already facing high level redundancy. The unemployment rate in the metro area of the region was recorded at 12.1 percent during August this year.
However, Shaw said the firm would continue positioning and bolstering its production base, not just to withstand present day competition, but also to better prepare itself for future growth as situation gets better.
The company said the move is not reflective of overall drop in demand, but it is shifting the production volume from the Dalton facility to other Shaw carpet producing units. It added that it would facilitate a more balanced flow of production alongside better work schedules and efficiencies.
Owing to the economic slowdown and varying customer preferences, Shaw has laid off over 7,000 workers over the last five years. The company employed 31,469 workers in 2006, which was quite close to record high levels.
However, as the housing market started decelerating in 2007, the number of workers in the company was reduced to 30,874, and the number further plummeted to 25,492 in 2009, when the company affected many closures. The company employed 24,552 workers in 2010, while presently it operates with about 24,000 workers.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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