
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 25, 1995                   TAG: 9501260044
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MEDECO LAYS OFF 18 TO CUT COSTS

THE SALEM LOCK-MAKING COMPANY says it is trying to get its expenses in line with those of its foreign competitors.

Medeco Security Locks Inc. of Salem said Tuesday it was laying off 18 of its 430 workers.

The layoffs are necessary, the company said, to remain competitive in the worldwide market for the types of high-security locks made by Medeco. It is a matter of keeping the company's costs in line with its foreign-based competitors, said Dennis Taggart, vice president for human resources.

The departures of 17 production workers and one manager were effective immediately. The departing employees will get the company's standard severance package, Taggart said.

The company doesn't anticipate any additional layoffs at this time, Taggart said.

The last layoffs at Medeco were in early 1992, when the company cut 90 employees from a work force of 530. The reason given for the layoffs then was a need to increase productivity at the plant.

Medeco was founded in Salem in 1968 and is now a subsidiary of Hillenbrand Industries of Batesville, Ind. The company is a leading maker of security locks.

Medeco's sales in the third quarter of 1994 were flat compared with the same period of 1993, according to the parent company's quarterly report. Hillenbrand's net earnings for the first nine months of 1994 were $48.9 million, compared with $100.9 million a year earlier.

by CNB