Franklin Electric Announces New Plans for Manufacturing Optimization
Franklin Electric Co., Inc. has approved a plan to close its Tulsa Avenue, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma manufacturing facility.
As part of this action, the Company will transfer approximately 260,000 annual man hours of manufacturing activity primarily to the Linares, Mexico facility, with a small portion of the transfer going to another Oklahoma City-based facility. The transfers should be completed by the end of the first quarter 2012.
The Company also expects to incur additional charges for the write-down of assets at its Siloam Springs, Arkansas facility, the closure of which has been previously announced. Additionally, the Company intends to complete other miscellaneous realignments and movements of manufacturing and distribution facilities in a variety of international locations, including the relocation to a new manufacturing facility in Joinville, Brazil.
The Company has estimated the pretax charge for these actions to be between $2.6 million and $5.2 million, of which $1.2 million to $3.5 million is for the Tulsa Avenue facility. The charges will begin in the second quarter of 2011 and end in the fourth quarter of 2012 and include severance expenses, pension curtailments, asset write-offs, and equipment relocation costs. Approximately fifty to sixty percent of these charges will be non-cash.
Source: Franklin Electric Co., Inc.
