Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 12, 1993 TAG: 9308120150
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"We hate to lose them," said David Hall, the plant's personnel manager. He said the company had been trying for about a month to avoid layoffs by "transferring people around" at the factory, which now employs 734.
Hall blamed the layoffs on the loss of $2.2 million in business at the change of the automobile model year from its biggest customer, General Motors.
Federal-Mogul is the world's largest manufacturer of engine bearings. Its local plant is located in the Blacksburg Industrial Park just off South Main Street.
GM remains the plant's largest customer, accounting for about one-third of the business at the Blacksburg plant. The company also makes engine bearings for Chrysler, John Deere and Caterpillar and for after-market suppliers like NAPA.
Ironically, Federal-Mogul lost the business to Delco, a GM subsidiary, Hall said. "We still make more GM bearings than GM does," he added.
The plant will lose the orders for at least a year. Hall said Federal-Mogul is not optimistic about making up the business elsewhere and rehiring the workers.
"There's not that much more business to get," he said.
He said he doesn't think the loss of business represents a trend in the automotive parts industry. "It's more of a market-share issue," he said.
Early last year, the plant announced plans to hire 30 to 35 additional workers in anticipation of increased 1993 model year production for GM.
Hall said the furloughed workers were members of the International Association of Machinists and earned an average $10.50 per hour at the plant, which has been in Blacksburg for 23 years.
Federal-Mogul, based in Southfield, Mich., has 20 plants in the United States and approximately a dozen overseas.
by CNB