RB&W Closing Auto Fastener Plant
RB&W Closing Auto Fastener Plant
Jason Sandefur
RB&W Corp. will close its fastener plant in Kent, OH, eliminating 77 jobs, Crain’s Cleveland Business reports. The plant manufactures cold-formed auto fasteners. Production will reportedly be moved to a facility in Canada owned by parent company Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. The layoffs would begin around March 31.
RB&W found it could make fasteners more cheaply near Toronto, according to the Plain Dealer.
“We have a facility there that’s larger and more efficient,” Park-Ohio CEO Edward Crawford told the Dealer.
Crawford noted that the U.S. needs fewer of the cold-formed fasteners the plant makes. “There’s this dramatic impact of what’s happening in the auto industry in this country,” Crawford added.
The Kent plant supplies nuts, bolts and screws to the domestic auto industry and has a single Big Three customer that purchases 75% to 80% of RB&W’s products, the Dealer reported.
“That customer has its own problems now,” Crawford explained.
Park-Ohio acquired RB&W in 1995. Web: rbwmfg.com �2007 FastenerNews.com
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