Mount Airy, North Carolina-based Insteel Industries, Inc. announced Friday that it was closing its facility in Wilmington, Delaware and moving the manufacturing to its Hazleton, Pennsylvania plant. The Hazleton plant was acquired in connection with Insteel's recent purchase of certain of the assets of Ivy Steel & Wire, Inc.
The consolidation of the plants is expected to result in the elimination of 49 positions at the Wilmington facility and the addition of 15 positions at the Hazleton plant, for a net reduction of 34 positions. It is anticipated that operations at the Wilmington facility will cease by the end of March 2011 and the equipment will be redeployed to other Insteel locations.
"We believe the actions that we are taking to consolidate our Northeast manufacturing operations will enhance our competitive position by realigning our capacity and reducing operating costs in what continues to be a challenging market environment," said H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO. "Our decision was made only after thoroughly reviewing other alternatives, and we regret having to take these actions considering the contributions our Wilmington employees have made over the years."
These actions follow Insteel's previous announcement on December 8, 2010 that it would consolidate its Texas manufacturing activities at its Dayton plant and cease operations at its leased facility in Houston by the end of February 2011. While further cost reduction initiatives are expected to be pursued, the company does not anticipate any additional plant closings at this time.