*NEWS*K-MINOLTA PLANT PREPARING FOR END

[Anonymous]

Konica plant preparing for the end
Konica
Minolta is ending production of photographic paper at its Whitsett
plant by the end of the month, but there’s hope that another company
could buy the plant.That would save about 60 of the 260 jobs that are
being lost with the plant’s closure, said Bob Harris, the president of
Konica Minolta Manufacturing USA . He couldn’t give any more
information but said any new operation would be much smaller.Konica
Minolta announced a year ago that it will close its plant because
digital photography has reduced sales of its photo paper. Last week,
100 employees worked their final shifts with the company. By the end of
January, the current work force of 120 will be cut to about 50, who
will fill orders and do administrative work until sometime in
April.Local economic developers and real estate agents say the
building’s prominent site on Interstate 40/85 should make it easy to
sell. County tax records set the value of the Whitsett site and
building at $18.5 million in 2005.The workers being laid off will stand
a good chance of landing new jobs, Harris said, because they are
familiar with advanced computerized manufacturing processes.”It’s a
pretty complex manufacturing process,” Harris said.All employees will
receive health care benefits through June, Harris said, and four weeks’
pay, plus two weeks for every year on the job. A 15-year employee would
be eligible for 34 weeks of pay. The workers will also get two days of
outplacement help with writing resumes and interviewing for jobs.Harris
said earlier that consumers are only printing one-third of the
photographs they did before the digital camera era. In addition, many
print at home, which has decreased the sale of the color photographic
paper that Konica Minolta makes here.Konica opened the
350,000-square-foot plant in 1989. At the time, it bought enough land
for growth, expecting its market to expand. During the past several
years, the company has produced about 1 billion square feet of color
paper a year — enough to turn out 7 billion 4- by-6-inch photos.Harris
has worked in the imaging business for 27 years, 16 of those at Konica
Minolta. But his executive status won’t give him any advantage when the
factory doors close, he said Monday. That’s because the company doesn’t
reassign its American executives when it closes operations
here.”Unfortunately, although I’m president, I’m just like all the
other employees,” he said. “Once this is all completed I’m just like
anybody else. I’ll be looking for a job.”

[Author]

January 22, 2007 at 12:55 PM