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Manchester Tool Co.'s work to shift elsewhere. Plant has 100 employees
By Jim Mackinnon
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007
The new corporate owner of Akron metal-cutting toolmaker Manchester Tool Co. plans to close the Summit County operation and move production to other U.S. facilities.
Latrobe, Pa.-based Kennametal Inc., which took over Manchester Tool as part of its $40 million acquisition of Federal Signal Corp.'s cutting tool operations in January, needs to reduce production capacity, its corporate spokeswoman said.
Manchester Tool, on Manchester Road, has about 100 employees.
Closing Manchester Tool and shifting production elsewhere will save Kennametal $3.4 million annually, said Kennametal spokeswoman Joy Chandler.
Kennametal on Monday began negotiating the closing with the United Steelworkers, which represents hourly employees.
Kennametal has not announced a final date to close Manchester Tool pending the outcome of those negotiations, Chandler said.
The union could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
''We're dealing with an excess capacity problem overall,'' Chandler said.
The plan to shut down Manchester Tool does not reflect on the work being done at the Akron facility, she said. ''They are doing a fine job.''
However, Manchester Tool makes products that are also made at other Kennametal facilities, she said.
Kennametal has six Ohio facilities totaling more than 1,000 employees, Chandler said. The work being done in Akron will not be transferred to the other Ohio plants, she said.
Kennametal, a tooling, engineered-product and materials maker, has annual sales of about $2.5 billion and has 14,000 employees globally.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.
The new corporate owner of Akron metal-cutting toolmaker Manchester Tool Co. plans to close the Summit County operation and move production to other U.S. facilities.
Get the full article here.
