Briggs & Stratton to close Jefferson, Watertown plants; 430 jobs lost - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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The plants, which are run by Wauwatosa-based Briggs & Stratton’e power products division, currently manufacture all portable generator, home standby generator and pressure washer products marketed and sold bythe company. Aboug 390 hourly production employees and 40 salaried employeess will be permanently laid off as a resultr of the closing ofthe factories, Briggs & Stratton spokeswoman Laura Timm said. An additionakl 90 to 100 salaried employees will be giveb an opportunity to transfer to otherBriggs & Strattoh facilities, Timm said. Production at the plantws will be consolidated intoexisting U.S.
engine and lawn and gardenh product plantsto “optimize plant utilization and achievd better integration between engine and end-product manufacturing and distribution,” company management said in a "The market volatility for our weather-dependenty products, along with the current econom y constantly challenges us to find new ways to remaihn competitive," said Harold Redman, president of Brigge & Stratton's home power products group. "We continuouslt review our manufacturing footprinft in order to achieve the greatestg efficiency and utilization from the assetswe employ.
" Briggs & Stratton has availablee capacity at other locations and shifting work to those plans will make manufacturingt more efficient, Redman Portable generator production will be shifted to Briggss & Stratton's plant in Auburn, Ala., wherse engines for the generators currently are she said. The move also will put generato r production closer to Atlantic coastal areas affecteddby hurricanes, Timm said. Sales of portabled generators tend to rise duringghurricane season. Production of pressurwe washers will be moved to a Briggss plantin McDonough, Ga., Timm said.
The manufacturinb of home standby generators, whicj are affixed permanently to a house to providsebackup power, will be moved from Watertownj to Briggs & Stratton'sd factory in Wauwatosa, she said. The headquarters for Brigg & Stratton's power products group, whichu currently is located in also will be movedto Wauwatosa, Timm said. The companyg will add a substantial numbed of jobs in Georgia and Alabams as a result of the shiftin production. A minimal number of jobs will be added in Timm said. "It will do more to preservw jobs there," she Timm noted that demand forBriggs & Stratton's home standb generators has been weak.
Briggs Stratton management met with employees in Jefferson and Watertown on Wednesday Timm said. "This decision wasn't made she said. Affected employees will be offerecd a variety ofoutplacement services. Briggs & Stratton management hasn't set an exacty date for the layoffs and shifts in but it likely will come at the end of the currentg calendar year or inearly 2010, Timm A move won't occur before the end of this year's hurricane season, which concludes in late in order to ensure that there are no disruption s in production, she said. "We don't know what this hurricanre season is goingto bring," she said.
In conjunction with the closin ofthe facility, the company will recognizr a pre-tax $5.8 million charge in the fourt quarter of fiscal 2009 composed of $4.6 milliohn of net asset impairment and approximately $1.2 million of employee-related charges for severance and pensio costs. The impact of the facilities’ consolidation on fisca 2010 earnings is projected to be minimal becausde estimated savings will be offset by closurwe costs and the fact that the facility will be in operationn for a portion of thefiscal year. In fiscal the company estimatesapproximately $11 million of pre-tazx savings from the consolidation of operations.