Begun as a joint venture by Toledo's Owens-Illinois Inc. in the 1960s to produce television picture tubes, the firm now known as Techneglas Inc. is ending all manufacturing.
Closing are a 48-worker plant and research and development facility at O-I's Perrysburg campus as well as plants in Columbus and Pittston, Pa. The move affects 1,100 hourly and salaried employees.
The firm, which is now owned by Japan's Nippon Electric Glass, said in an announcement yesterday that it is unable to compete with cheap foreign imports.
"Now is the time to focus our attention on meeting the expectations of our employees, customers, vendors, and other constituents," Motoharu Matsumoto, Techneglas president, said in a statement from the firm's Columbus offices. "In order to do this, it is imperative that we complete an efficient and orderly shutdown."
The majority of employees in Columbus and Pennsylvania were let go yesterday, although metro Toledo layoffs won't happen until November, said Joseph Schaeufele, manufacturing vice president.
The local workforce is 28 hourly and 20 salaried employees.
Employees will receive pay and benefits for 60 days, job-search help, and assistance applying for training funds provided by the federal government to workers who lose their jobs because of imports, Techneglas officials said.
Techneglas describes itself as North America's largest manufacturer of glass for televisions.
The firm will fill customer orders at least through the end of the year from inventory and with overseas glass purchases, the manufacturing chief said. Officials will decide at that time whether to dissolve Techneglas or continue to serve customers through outside purchases.
"The pressure from offshore glass supply has held prices down," Mr. Schaeufele said. "Price erosion coupled with volume loss due to consumer demand for new technologies such as plasma, LCD, and projection sets have crippled the entire North American television glass industry."
Plants operated by competitors have closed in State College, Pa. and Circleville, Ohio, over the past two years, the company official added.
L.G. Philips Display closed a TV picture tube plant in Ottawa, Ohio, in 2002, eliminating 1,163 jobs.
Nippon teamed with O-I in the 1960s to build tubes for black-and-white TV sets and later large-screen TVs. The joint venture was known as OI-NEG TV Products Inc. until 1993 when the Toledo firm sold its stake to Nippon for $135 million.
Contact Gary Pakulski at:
gpakulski@theblade.com
or 419-724-6082.
First Published August 4, 2004, 4:26 a.m.
