ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 19, 1996 TAG: 9612190055
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL and SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITERS
FORTY-FIVE ADMINISTRATIVE JOBS here will be moved to North Carolina by January, a spokesman said.
Singer Furniture Co., which this summer closed its Roanoke manufacturing plant, said Wednesday it will eliminate 700 more jobs and shut down one of its two remaining production facilities.
The High Point, N.C.-based furniture company will shutter its Lenoir, N.C., manufacturing complex by spring, according to the company's Roanoke spokesman, William Foster. Singer will move selected production lines to its plant in Chocowinity, N.C., near Greenville, which employs 300.
The company said it plans to focus primarily on residential bedroom and youth furniture.
Singer laid off close to 300 workers this summer when it closed its Roanoke plant. Forty-five administrative jobs currently remain in Roanoke, but those will be moved to North Carolina by January, Foster said. About two-thirds of those jobs had been destined for Lenoir, he said; these positions now will be re-evaluated.
Two years ago, Singer employed more than 2,000 people companywide. When the most recent round of cuts is complete, that work force will be reduced to 400.
Questions about Singer's financial health began to surface in April, when the company laid off several hundred workers in Lenoir. The next month, Singer announced that the Roanoke plant would close.
Foster said in May, however, that the cutbacks were a "sign that Singer has addressed its financial problems."
The Singer Corp., a sewing machine and home appliance company, is owned by Semi-Tech Global Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong, which has annual sales of $1.27 billion.
Singer Furniture has gone through at least four ownership changes during the last 10 years, a factor that analysts have blamed for at least part of the company's problems.
The Singer Co. originally bought the former Johnson-Carper Furniture Co. of Roanoke in 1969 and changed its name to Singer Furniture. Roanoke was the furniture company's headquarters until 1994, when then-president Dennis Ammons moved to High Point. As recently as two years ago, Singer employed 500 people at its Roanoke plant.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines KEYWORDS: JOBCHEKby CNB