ESAB to close Florence plant, cut 300 jobs

ESAB Welding and Cutting Products announced Wednesday that it will close its Florence facility by March 31 , 2016. The closing is expected to mean job losses for 300 employees.

The company made the announcement in a media advisory sent from its North American headquarters in Annapolis Junction, Maryland. It is also closing its facility in Roanoke, Texas,

“I hate it for the people here,” said Joe W. King, executive director of Florence County Economic Development Partnership . said. “The good thing is we will have until March and time to find a suitable company for the building that is going to create jobs. Hopefully , we’ll have plenty of time.”

King said he had heard rumors for over a year that ESAB might close . He was disappointed but not surprised .

He likened the situation to when H.J. Heinz announced it was coming to Florence and subsequently left.

"We were able to quickly find a tenant and now we have a wonderful company with Ruiz Foods coming," King said. "The same could be said when Maytag announced it was closing. Out of that we now have Otis Elevator that is a great company and more involved in the community."

Severance benefits, including health care and outplacement assistance , will be provided to the ESAB employees. All the employees at ESAB’s Roanoke, Texas, facility, located approximately 16 miles from the Denton plant, will transfer to the Denton facility. The Roanoke facility will close by February 29, 2016. No other ESAB locations will be affected.

Jeff McKay, executive director the Northeastern Strategic Alliance, which serves Florence and eight other counties, said Florence County has had success bringing good corporate citizens to Florence.

“In this day and time , it’s not uncommon to have companies reassess their situation (like ESAB) when they buy other companies,” McKay said. “We will work hand-in-hand with Joe King, and the Florence County Economic Development Partnership, to market the skill sets of the employees that will be available and find a tenant for the property. We will find somebody to come back in and put folks back to work.”

T he company is taking a number of steps to restructure its North American operations. The restructuring plan will integrate ESAB and Victor regional operations and facilities, and will be deployed in phases throughout this year and into 2016.

“This consolidation will enable us to significantly improve the customer experience while leveraging our resources through the application of best practices,” said Clay Kiefaber, ESAB p resident and CEO. “While we regret the loss of associate positions, consolidating our operations will help improve our overall customer responsiveness, and deliver even better performance and future growth.”

ESAB’s Florence manufacturing operations will be consolidated into the company’s Denton, Texas, and Hermosillo, Mexico, facilities.

The company’s Florence finance, accounting, customer service, inside sales, and training functions will also be consolidated into Denton .

Plasma cutting design engineering and research and development R&D functions will be transitioned to ESAB’s West Lebanon, New Hampshire , facility.

ESAB will maintain a limited commercial presence in Florence (sales, marketing, marketing communications, and capital goods sales) as well as some personnel . These functions will be relocated to a new facility in Florence in early 2016.

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 8:24 AM with the headline "ESAB to close Florence plant, cut 300 jobs."