Owens-Corning plant to close; 50 to lose jobs

About 50 workers in a Fairfield County plant will lose their jobs by mid-year as the fiberglass fabrics plant’s third owner in five years moves the work to other U.S. plants.

Owens-Corning is closing the Ridgeway plant because it overlaps production at its other U.S. locations, said Jason Saragian, a spokesman at its headquarters in Toledo, Ohio. Work from Ridgeway and a 120-employee plant in New Braunfels, Texas, will be moved to plants in Brunswick, Maine, and Wichita Falls, Texas.

Ridgeway, which makes fabric used to reinforce circuit boards and other products, was one of about 20 plants Owens-Corning bought from Saint-Gobain of France last November for $640 million.

Gividi, an Italian company, opened the plant in 1997, but closed it in mid-2003. Saint-Gobain bought the plant in August 2003, and reopened it.