Ferro will shut down its Canton plant
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
The Ferro plant on West Wylie Avenue in Canton Township
The Ferro plant on West Wylie Avenue in Canton Township
The Ferro Corp. plant in Canton Township will close in late 2019 or early 2020, the company said in a news release Friday.
About 200 are employed at the manufacturing facility, which produces functional coatings and color solutions. Ferro – a global firm based in Mayfield Heights, Ohio – said it also will shutter a plant in Cleveland and “multiple Latin American sites.” The company will consolidate work from all of those locations at its expanded facility in Villagran, Mexico.
Transfer of production from the Canton plant to Mexico “will begin in the first quarter,” Ferro said. Some of the Canton production will be shifted to Ferro’s King of Prussia plant in eastern Pennsylvania, the company added.
“Pigments will be out by early spring,” one Canton worker said, referring to one facet of the operation.
The company said about 50 Canton employees “will be offered positions at other Ferro locations or opportunities to work from home.”
Ferro cited concerns about infrastructure issues in Canton Township, a round-the-clock operation. The company said the site, on West Wylie Avenue, “requires high capital spending due to aged infrastructure and equipment, manufacturing is hampered by the site’s layout, and the cost structure is extraordinarily high, including because of high energy consumption and repair and maintenance costs. The high cost of production impacts sales, profitability and market share and is not sustainable.”
Employees spoke anonymously to the Observer-Reporter as they left Ferro Friday morning. Some were crying, most were angry as they walked to their vehicles in the company parking lot. Many, obviously, were broadsided by the news.
Three employees said an email was circulated Wednesday morning, stating there would be a communications meeting in the shipping area at 9 a.m. Friday. They said a corporate official addressed workers at that time, announcing the company was consolidating operations and that jobs would start being cut in March. They were told to leave and return to work Monday.
The meeting ended before 9:15.
Ferro’s decision to shutter plants is not stunning, in light of what chief executive officer Peter Thomas said in the fall. Speaking at the company’s third-quarter earnings call, he said: “Over the last few years, we have closed six manufacturing facilities and six sales offices, and we are in the process of closing another six production facilities by the end of 2019.”
As employees streamed from their workplace Friday morning, largely quiet and downtrodden, only a few responded – very briefly – to questions from a reporter and photographer standing on the other side of the parking lot’s chain-link fence.
“They’re closing,” one worker said, biting off words. “They said it’s a process, but I don’t think so. I don’t think we’ll be back.”
A longtime Ferro employee groused: “The place won’t be here much longer.”
Following the announcement, another worker called this newspaper to lament the occurrence. That individual anticipates job cuts to begin in March, and added: “By the end of this year, there will no longer be Ferro Washington. I had always heard from people who worked here 30 or 40 years that ‘the doors are going to close.’ Now they are.
“Ferro Corp. doesn’t take care of its employees. They like to take care of their business portfolio, buy up companies and let some facilities struggle. They said it costs too much to maintain us and keep us going.”
Ferro has 10 locations in the United States, including the two in Pennsylvania. A year from now, the Keystone State will likely have one.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Workers at the Ferro plant on West Wylie Avenue in Canton Township exit the facility Friday after receiving notice the plant is closing.