ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240018
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
The recent firing of 14 salaried employees, including some managers, at the Rubatex plant in Bedford was part of the company's ongoing effort to improve operations, company spokesman Gerald Kirschke said.
Rubatex has made a commitment to improve its plant in Bedford and that includes both the plant's operations and its personnel, Kirschke said. He declined to name either the people who were fired on April 12, their positions or their replacements, if any. According to one production worker at the plant, the firings were plant-wide and did not center on any single department.
The plant has a new manager, Steve Turner, who joined the company in January from Dayco, a maker of rubber products for the auto industry.
Earlier this year Rubatex President Frank Roland told the 800 workers at the Bedford plant that management had found the plant's operations, including its layout and operational systems, were not up to company standards. Roland asked employees to improve quality and make other changes at the plant in return for management's commitment to invest in improvements to the plant's facilities.
Rubatex, based at the Valleypointe office complex in Roanoke County, is a subsidiary of RBX Holdings Inc., also headquartered at Valleypointe. RBX was sold last October to American Industrial Partners of San Francisco and New York.
Rubatex produces a closed-cell foam rubber from synthetic rubber, vinyl and plastics. The foam rubber product, which contains thousands of nitrogen-filled cells, is used for a variety of applications from diving wet suits and other sports products to pipe insulation and shoe soles.
Rubatex also operates plants in Conover, N.C. and Colt, Ark.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB