Fri Sep 03 2010
By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
Once one of the city’s largest employers, Ametek Lamb Electric Co. on Lake Street in Kent whittled away its dwindling workforce further this week by laying off at least a dozen employees.
Ametek operated several divisions at the Kent location, including what remained of a manufacturing workforce that once numbered about 400 employees in the early 1980s.
Bill Burke, the vice president for Ametek’s investor relations at its headquarters in Paoli, Pa., said Wednesday the company closed its small manufacturing component in Kent and laid off about 13 workers Monday.
The Kent location manufactured hazardous and industrial drive and air-moving motors.
“We had done a lot of work over the years trying to reduce the cost of those products to remain competitive in the global market,” Burke said. “Unfortunately, despite all that work, we had to shut it down there and move it to another plant within Ametek.”
Burke could not confirm the number of corporate employees remaining at the site, but he said there are no planned changes for the other Ametek divisions in Kent.
Ametek first moved to the massive Kent complex on Lake Street in 1929 from Cleveland. As a global manufacturer, Ametek has specialized in fractional horsepower electric motors for vacuum cleaners, electronic component fans and smaller motors. At its peak, the Kent location employed more than 500 workers.
Today, Ametek has approximately 10,000 employees at more than 70 sales and service operations in the U.S. and more than 18 other countries. The company has annualized sales of more than $2 billion.
Burke said the difficult economic times made the decision to close the Kent operation even more difficult.
“It’s not something we look to do,” Burke said. “We’re concerned about the impact it’s having on their employees, their family members and the local community. It’s a difficult decision and we didn’t enter into it lightly.”
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Posted by blndbck March 19, 2009
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Yada, Yada, Yada. Do we want to make things in the United States or China??? Recovery? Been there, Done that in the 70's and 80's. We are slow learners!!!!
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