(Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania)
By Spencer Soper, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.
Sep. 29--Saying demand for its products and services has not met expectations, GE Oil and Gas announced Monday that it is closing its Conmec plant in Palmer Township and an office in Hanover Township, Northampton County, at the end of the year.
A total of 81 employees will be affected by the closures: 48 workers will be laid off and 33 will be asked to move to other GE operations in either Houston or Florence, Italy, company spokesman Nigel O'Connor said.
Based in Italy, GE Oil and Gas makes such products as turbo machinery and industrial compressors used in the oil and gas industries.
The company employs about 12,000 people worldwide and had 2008 revenues of $7.4 billion.
The workers affected in the local closures include manufacturing, engineering and office employees, O'Connor said. The plant and office are expected to close Dec. 30 and the operations will be consolidated into other GE locations.
"Despite our best efforts to increase orders and implement several cost-cutting measures at the site, order growth has not met the expectations of the company," GE said in a news release. "Underutilization of production at the site makes it difficult to justify continued operations."
It is the latest blow for the Lehigh Valley labor market. Unemployment hit 9.3 percent in August, its highest level in 25 years.
Employees were notified of the closures on Wednesday, O'Connor said.
Those being laid off will be offered severance packages and job placement assistance, he said.
GE purchased Conmec in 2001 from Dover Corporation in New York.
spencer.soper@mcall.com
610-820-6694
-----
To see more of The Morning Call, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mcall.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NYSE:DOV,
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
