Indiana Glass Closing information from the news service

Indiana Glass plant closing
Associated Press

DUNKIRK, Ind. - About 240 people are expected to lose their jobs when Indiana Glass Co. ends production at its plant in this eastern Indiana city later this month. The consumer glassware manufacturer, a division of Ohio-based Lancaster Colony Corp., said Friday it expects glass manufacturing at the plant to end about Nov. 26. Rumors of cutbacks at the plant have circulated for months after a labor dispute and a weak national retail market. In January, striking Indiana Glass workers agreed to a three-year contract with the company, ending a three-month walkout. Lancaster Colony will continue to make glassware under the Indiana Glass name at its Sapulpa, Okla., plant. The Dunkirk plant, the site of glass manufacturing since 1895, will operate primarily as a warehouse and shipping site. The plant's mold shop and mold cleaning operation also will continue for now, the company said. About 50 to 60 jobs will be retained locally. Dunkirk is about 20 miles northeast of Muncie. At its peak, Indiana Glass employed more than 500. But for the past several months, the plant has been operating well below full capacity. "It's a tough market out there for the glass industry, Dunkirk Mayor Tom Johnson said told The Commercial Review on Portland. "They say the economy is getting better. It may be in Mexico, but not in the United States."
Company officials posted a notice of the decision to end production at the plant Friday. Letters explaining the decision were to be sent to employees.
Posted on Monday, Nov. 04, 2002

Dunkirk to lose largest employer

By NICK WERNER news@thestarpress.com
DUNKIRK - Indiana Glass Co. announced Friday that it would halt manufacturing in November at its Dunkirk plant, which was crippled by a 97-day strike that ended in January. About 240 workers will lose their jobs, according to Indiana Glass Vice President James Grubb. "It was certainly a difficult decision to make," Grubb said. "This is a place where some families have worked for two or three generations." Grubb said glass production would end about Nov. 26. The operation will be consolidated into the company's Sapulpa, Okla., factory. About sixty employees will remain in Dunkirk to continue warehouse and distribution operations. Foreign competition and the bankruptcy of retail stores such as K-Mart played a major role in the shutdown at Dunkirk, Grubb said.
"Sales have been very slow," Grubb said. "We've had many customers consolidate or close, and most retailers are devoting less shelf space to glassware's." While company officials blame poor performance on a bad economy, some say Indiana Glass suffered irreversible losses during the strike that began in 2001. "Things were going good before the strike, and they never completely recovered," Dunkirk Mayor Tom Johnson said.
According to Grubb, Indiana Glass tried to generate sales by developing new candle holders, vases and other products. But the efforts weren't productive enough to prevent the shutdown. The company plans to pay active union employees through Jan. 1 and will offer them the vacation pay they would have received in 2003 as an incentive to stay until the shutdown. The loss of income generated by Indiana Glass, the largest employer in Jay County, will have a trickle-down effect on struggling local businesses, Johnson said. "Everything is run on a shoestring right now, and when you lose an industry like Indiana Glass you wonder if the shoestring is going to break," he said. According to Bob Quadrozzi of the Jay County Economic Development Corp., Indiana Glass had a $12-million payroll in March 2002 and employed 360-400 people, half of whom were Jay County residents.
"We're estimating we could lose $100,000 to $120,000 of our gross adjusted income tax in Jay County," Quadrozzi said. "We're also going to lose [about] $25,000 to $30,000 in EDIT tax money from the payroll loss. It might not show up for a year or so."
Johnson said he prays that the Saint-Gobain glass factory, also in Dunkirk, doesn't close its doors too. The loss of both factories could devastate the small city, Johnson said. "You just got to keep your fingers crossed and hope you don't lose Saint-Gobain," he said.

Indiana Glass Co. to stop production at Dunkirk plant

About 240 people are expected to lose their jobs when Indiana Glass Co. ends production at its plant in this eastern Indiana city later this month.
The consumer glassware manufacturer, a division of Ohio-based Lancaster Colony Corp., said Friday that it expects glass manufacturing at the plant to end about Nov. 26. Rumors of cutbacks at the plant have circulated for months following a labor dispute and a weak national retail market. In January, striking Indiana Glass workers agreed to a three-year contract with the company, ending a three-month walkout. Lancaster Colony will continue to make glassware under the Indiana Glass name at its Sapulpa, Okla., plant. The Dunkirk plant, the site of glass manufacturing since 1895, will operate primarily as a warehouse and shipping site. The plant's mold shop and mold cleaning operation also will continue for now, the company said. About 50 to 60 jobs will be retained locally. Dunkirk is about 20 miles northeast of Muncie. At its peak, Indiana Glass employed more than 500. But for the past several months, the plant has been operating well below full capacity. "It's a tough market out there for the glass industry, Dunkirk Mayor Tom Johnson said told The Commercial Review on Portland. "They say the economy is getting better. It may be in Mexico, but not in the United States."
Company officials posted a notice of the decision to end production at the plant Friday. Letters explaining the decision were to be sent to employees.
November, 6th, 2002

Glass outlet in Muncie gets new ownership, will remain open

By BRIAN SAPARNIS brians@thestarpress.com
MUNCIE - Next month's closing of Indiana Glass Co. won't have much impact on a glass outlet store in Muncie.
In fact, on Friday, the same day Indiana Glass officials announced the Dunkirk plant would shut down in November, the name of the outlet store in Muncie changed from Indiana Glass Factory Outlet to Glass and More Factory Outlet. The new owners are Yorktown residents Duaine and Diana Moore.
"We have new, local ownership," said Ron Braun, vice president of operations for the store. "We're going to make this go. We're really going to promote this new operation and our expanded merchandise." The outlet store has been open in Muncie since 1983, Braun said. It will sell discontinued products from Indiana Glass, he said, but the store at 1300 S. Batavia Ave. will promote more products from other companies. "We're going to have a much greater variety," he said. The store's staff of five full-time employees and 15 part-time employees will remain intact, Braun said. The outlet this week started extended warehouse hours for the holiday season, he said. Indiana Glass factory will close, cost 240 jobs Dunkirk -- The Indiana Glass factory will cease glass manufacturing around Nov. 26, a move that will cost about 240 workers their jobs. Indiana Glass, a subsidiary of Ohio-based Lancaster Colony Corp., blamed the closing on insufficient sales. Key parts of the Dunkirk glass manufacturing will be moved to the Indiana Glass factory in Sapulpa, Okla., the company said in a news release. The 240 union employees losing their jobs will be paid through Jan. 1. The union representing workers at the plant went on strike for 97 days last October after management sought concessions from the union. A contract was ratified in January.

Sapulpa, Okla., Glass Plant to Add Jobs for New Production Lines Tuesday, November 5, 2002 12:46:41 PM - Knight Ridder
Between 50 and 100 new jobs will be available next year when a glass manufacturing plant in Sapulpa adds two production lines. Columbus, Ohio-based Lancaster Colony Corp. is ending manufacturing at a plant in Dunkirk, Ind., and consolidating those jobs to the Lancaster-run facility in Sapulpa, known as the Bartlett-Collins division. The shutdown will affect about 240 employees in Indiana, although warehousing and distribution operations will remain at the Dunkirk site. The Sapulpa plant, a division of Indiana Glass Co. -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Lancaster -- employs about 325 people and makes glassware, floral vases and candle votives. By early next year, the plant will be adding heavier and more decorative pressed-glass items to its blown glassware capabilities, Lancaster spokesman Tom Rosa said Monday. The hiring process will begin in January and last through March, he said. "We'll continue production in Indiana until the end of November, then equipment will be shipped here and reinstalled in December and the first of January," Rosa said. Jobs in Sapulpa will range from production line to skilled glassmaking positions utilizing mold technology, Rosa said. A salary range for the new jobs was not available. Along with its glassware's and candle division, Lancaster also makes specialty foods and automotive products. The publicly traded company has about 5,900 employees nationwide. On Friday, Lancaster reported net sales of $276 million for its first fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 30, up 4 percent from the same period last year. The specialty foods division posted a 9 percent increase for the quarter, and the automotive segment saw a 19 percent increase. The glassware and candle division saw a sales decline of 13 percent for the quarter, Lancaster said. By Debbie Blossom
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Ohio-Based Manufacturer to Move Glass Production, Jobs to Sapulpa, Okla.
Tuesday, November 5, 2002 03:50:11 PM - Knight Ridder
SAPULPA, Okla., Nov 03, 2002 (The Daily Oklahoman - Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News via COMTEX) -- The announcement Friday of the closure of a glass plant in Indiana means new jobs for Oklahoma.

Lancaster Colony Corp. -- a Columbus, Ohio-based diversified manufacturer -- on Friday said it will shutter operations at its Dunkirk, Ind., plant early this month. It plans to transfer glass productions to a Lancaster-run plant in Sapulpa and hire an additional 50 to 100 employees there.
The move will displace about 240 workers in Dunkirk. Susan Carlson Bynum, executive director of the Sapulpa Chamber of Commerce,
called it "exciting news" for the city of 19,000 15 minutes west of Tulsa. Tom Rosa, spokesman for Lancaster, said the about 325-employee Sapulpa plant --
owned by subsidiary Indiana Glass Co. -- already has the capacity for additional glassmaking equipment, but more workers will be needed to cover increased production. The company plans to begin hiring additional employees between January and March. Currently, consumer glassware, floral vases and candle votives are made at the Sapulpa plant. By next year, the plant also will be producing a more decorative and heavier line of glass that is being made at the Dunkirk plant, Rosa said. Some current employees in Sapulpa will be trained in that production, he said. Bynum said the new jobs will add to the about 1,500 manufacturing jobs already in Sapulpa. Other large manufacturers there are Saint-Gobain Containers, a maker of glass bottles; T.D. Williamson Inc.; Madison Inc.; J&G Steel Fabrication; Sagebrush Pipeline Supply; Bennett Steel Inc.; Paragon Industries Inc.; and Frankoma
Pottery. Lancaster will retain about 60 employees at the Dunkirk facility, Rosa said. In addition to glassware and candles, Lancaster makes specialty foods and automotive accessories. Lancaster employs about 5,900 employees nationwide.
By Elizabeth Camacho Wiley
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