Sony phasing out Westmoreland plant by 2010
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Sony employs 650 people at its production center in Westmoreland County.
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Sony's Westmoreland County plant will phase out operations over the next 16 months, county Commissioner and incoming state Sen. Kim Ward confirmed today.
Ms. Ward said closing the East Huntingdon plant would be "a big hit" to the county's economy. The decision will have an immediate impact on the 650 employees at the plant, which makes flat-screen televisions, and local firms that supply the plant.
Late this afternoon, Sony issued a news release in which it said television manufacturing portion of the plant will close by the end of February. The facility opened in 1990 to produce large, rear-projection televisions. It currently has about 650 employees who are primarily involved with flat-panel LCD televisions, repair service and logistics. Due to current economic conditions, the company, its remaining plants in Baja, Mexico, should be able to handle market demand for the foreseeable future. Repair and logistics operations will shut down in Westmoreland in March 2010.
Earlier, Gov. Ed Rendell said the state is prepared to help the employees, who are victims of worldwide cost-cutting moves announced by Sony.
He said he had talked this morning with Sony officials, but would leave any official announcement about closing the plant up to them, after they'd talked to the employees.
He did say, "It's not going to close immediately, No. 1. And No. 2, (the closing) flies in the face of the good news we have had in southwest Pa., the Westinghouse expansion and the U.S. Steel investment in Clairton.
Sony's lease with the Pennsylvania Industrial Developmjent Authority expires in 2010 and the company has told the state it will fulfill its lease.
He said the state Labor and Industry Department can help the workers if they are laid off, including retraining programs and additional education. He said they are very talented workers and is hopeful they could find new jobs fairly quickly.
The decisison to phase out the plant "goes to the worldwide recession and the fact that TVs are being made in different ways than they used to be made.
"They're being made lighter these days, infinitely lighter. The shipping advantages that we used to have, making those televisions in the midwest of America, have dissipated because the TVs are lighter and easier to ship."
He said he is hoping that "a renewable energy company" might take up some of the space that might be vacated by Sony. He said it's possible a second firm might move into the building also. He wouldn't give any more details about the companies or about how many jobs they would bring.
In this morning's conversation with Sony, "We probed deeply what the reasons were, to see if there was anything we could do," but it didn't seem there was.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First Published December 9, 2008 1:29 pm
