US glassmaker Owens-Illinois, will reportedly close its Clarion, Pennsylvania production plant, which had been one of the city“s top employers for 105 years, on 1 July, affecting 420 employees.
The …
US glassmaker Owens-Illinois, will reportedly close its Clarion, Pennsylvania production plant, which had been one of the city“s top employers for 105 years, on 1 July, affecting 420 employees. The plant closure has nothing to do with the employees or their performance, company spokesperson Kristie Martin said. Owens-Illinois established a “strategic footprint initiative“, which resulted in consolidation of operations, in 2007. Since then other plants have also been closed, including one in Charlotte, Michigan, with 140 employees, along with a furnace plant in Oakland, California, where the workforce was reduced from 400 to 200. According to the company, the Clarion facility is one of its most expensive, due to dated infrastructure. Owens-Illinois was the county“s third most important employer, after Clarion University and Clarion Hospital, and the largest manufacturing plant. Clarion officials and residents are now worried that the closure could have devastating financial effects on the city, also causing it to lose up to USD 270,000 per year in local government revenue.