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GAF Materials Corp. Shut down operations at its Goldsboro
roofing materials plant on Jan. 31 2008, ending the employment of 108
workers.
Also affected by the company's
trimming will be a similar mid-sized plant in Quakertown, Pa.
Both facilities produce
shingles. "The nearly unprecedented
decline in the housing market in 2007 has created extremely
challenging market conditions for GAF, as it has for many other
roofing manufacturers, and has resulted in a significant decline in
demand for residential roofing materials," said Executive Vice
President and Chief Operating Officer Dick Nowak in a written
statement. "These market conditions have made improving
production efficiency and our competitiveness even higher priorities
than usual.
"We explored options to
improve our competitiveness, but unfortunately, reducing excess
manufacturing capacity is a necessity."
The problem, explained Roger
Assad, vice president-law, is that the Goldsboro and Quakertown
plants are two of the company's smallest -- both two-wide
manufacturing lines.
"The larger facilities
run four wide, which has twice the capacity and efficiency as a
two-wide laminator," he said. "And unfortunately, the best
decision for the company is not the best decision for the
employees."
Wayne County Development
Alliance Existing Industry Specialist Mike Haney speculated that
increasing transportation and raw material costs also contributed to
the decision.
GAF has operated the Goldsboro
plant since 1998 when it purchased the assets from a competitor who
was shutting down operations.
In his written statement,
Nowak emphasized that the shut-downs were "not a reflection on
the Quakertown or Goldsboro employees."
"Their energy, dedication
and solid performance made these closing decisions especially
difficult," he said.
But, Haney added, those
qualities should make it easier for those employees to find new
jobs.
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