Brillion Iron Works To Cut 200 Jobs

Unless you spend a lot of time thinking about heavy metal the odds are good that you have never heard of Brillion Iron Works. For those of you who don’t know about them lets get you up to speed before we look at the jobs cuts to be made, “Brillion Iron Works, a business unit of Accuride Corporation (NYSE: ACW), operates one of the largest and most versatile iron foundries in the U.S., specializing in products ranging from lightweight, intricate, thin-walled castings to highly-cored, heavy-sectioned castings for a wide range of industries, including the heavy- and medium-duty truck, industrial machinery, and construction equipment markets. The company was first organized in 1890. It originated as a small machine shop manufacturing farm tools. In 1900 the plant was relocated and new buildings were constructed. The foundry was then added. In 1933 the former company ceased operation. On January 1, 1934, the company was reorganized and started business with R.D. Peters as General Manager. From 1934 and its payroll of 20 people, current employment has grown to approximately 1,000 people.”

The company is getting ready to layoff about 200 workers in a mass layoff action that is designed to help the company cut back on its expenses and become a leaner operation. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

In a statement made to reporter for My Brillion News, a company devoted to covering the events of Brillion, a company representative said the following, “Brillion had experienced significant revenue growth through June due to business expansion with customers and continued capacity constraints in the foundry industry.  Brillion increased its workforce during the year in order to meet demand.  Conditions slowed in Brillion’s core industrial, agricultural, construction, and oil and gas markets, during July and August due to the very weak pace of growth in the overall economy.  Brillion is responding to these changes by resizing its workforce to the new level of demand it is experiencing.”

As you may have guessed, if you are a loyal reader of this site, this is not the only company in this industry to cut back on jobs in a bid to become more profitable. For those of you who missed out on our earlier coverage here is an excerpt that will get you up to speed in no time at all, “Schnitzer Steel Industries is a name that many of you may not know. After all unless you have a lot of need for heavy metals in your life why would you?… Sadly the company has made an announcement that is bad news for their current workers.  The company has decided to take on a substantial restructuring, one that will impact several hundred jobs…”