- Hub staff
Tenneco's evening shift heard it on the radio or social media. Owen Sound Hub received word from the wife of a decades-long employee who was called in to hear it at an 8 a.m. meeting.
Monroe Auto Equipment expanded to Canada from the US in 1975, and was purchased by Tenneco in 1977. The firm currently has almost 500 employees in Owen Sound. This will be a larger loss of jobs in the city in one year than the closures of PPG, Chubb Edwards, Goodyear and Canavac combined.
Some industrial job opportunities will be created over the next year by Bruce Power suppliers BWXT Canada and Brotech Precision CNC, MPX Bioceutical and the expansion of Maclean Engineering, BellWyck Packaging and Balfor. No exact numbers are available.
The Owen Sound Hub did not receive a response to our request for comment from Mayor Boddy, but the City released this statement. “I am disappointed in the news of Tenneco ceasing operations at their Owen Sound facility,” stated Mayor Ian Boddy. “Our hearts go out today to the employees and families affected most by this closure. In the coming weeks, the City will work with Tenneco and its employees to ensure all available re-employment and training resources are made available.”
Tenneco's announcement:
Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) announced today it will close its original equipment (OE) ride control plants in Owen Sound, Ontario and Hartwell, Georgia as part of an initiative to realign its manufacturing footprint to enhance operational efficiency and respond to changing market conditions and capacity requirements.
The company expects to begin transferring current customer business primarily to its ride control facility in Kettering, Ohio, later this year. Tenneco expects to complete the closure of the two facilities near the end of the second quarter of 2020.
“Today’s actions to realign our North American ride control operations will strengthen our long-term competitiveness in this critically important region,” said Brian Kesseler, Tenneco co-CEO. “We recognize the impact this action will have on our employees, and are working with the local communities to provide transition assistance for all affected employees, including opportunities to transfer to other Tenneco locations.”
The company estimates that these restructuring actions will generate between $20 million and $25 million in annualized savings beginning by the end of 2020. Restructuring and related charges are expected to be in the range of $70 million and $85 million, with $20 million to $30 million occurring in the fourth quarter of 2018. The charges comprise between $40 million and $50 million of cash expenditures (including severance payments to employees, the cost of decommissioning and starting up equipment, and other costs associated with this action) and between $30 million and $35 million of non-cash asset write-downs and other costs.”