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Allegheny Technologies Sheds 250 White-Collar Jobs
04/20/2016 - Specialty steelmaker Allegheny Technologies Inc. is laying off roughly one-third of the salaried employees in its flat rolled division, lopping 250 positions from its payroll, the company has announced.
The layoffs are to be completed by the end of the second quarter, the U.S.-based company said.
“The restructuring and right-sizing actions we are taking, while painful for our employees and our company, are necessary to help secure the future of ATI Flat Rolled Products,” said chairman and CEO Rich Harshman in a statement.
“Reducing our flat rolled products business’ dependence on unprofitable commodity products is a difficult process,” he added. “We believe in U.S. manufacturing. However, it is difficult for a U.S.-based company to compete in the global commodity markets, particularly when significant global overcapacity exists for products such as commodity stainless steel sheet and grain-oriented electrical steel.
Earlier this year, the company announced the idling of its standard stainless meltshop and sheet finishing operations in Midland, Pa., USA, and its grain-oriented electrical steel operations. The Midland facility has been shuttered, and the grain-oriented electrical steel operations are to come to a halt by the end of this month.
“We are in the process of creating a smaller, more agile, streamlined, cohesive, and efficient (flat rolled) business that will focus on products and markets with significant technical barriers to entry,” Harshman said.
ATI said the layoffs will are expected to generate more than US$30 millon in annualized cost savings beginning in the third quarter.
Metals industry analyst John Tumazos told the (Pittsburgh) Tribune-Review newspaper that the announcement is reason for pessimism.
“They're just downsizing, and they're not holding their breath to recapture any of the volume they lost,” said Tumazos, president and chief executive of his firm, Tumazos Very Independent Research. “They're hunkering down, and they're not waiting for something to bring the volume back.”
“The restructuring and right-sizing actions we are taking, while painful for our employees and our company, are necessary to help secure the future of ATI Flat Rolled Products,” said chairman and CEO Rich Harshman in a statement.
“Reducing our flat rolled products business’ dependence on unprofitable commodity products is a difficult process,” he added. “We believe in U.S. manufacturing. However, it is difficult for a U.S.-based company to compete in the global commodity markets, particularly when significant global overcapacity exists for products such as commodity stainless steel sheet and grain-oriented electrical steel.
Earlier this year, the company announced the idling of its standard stainless meltshop and sheet finishing operations in Midland, Pa., USA, and its grain-oriented electrical steel operations. The Midland facility has been shuttered, and the grain-oriented electrical steel operations are to come to a halt by the end of this month.
“We are in the process of creating a smaller, more agile, streamlined, cohesive, and efficient (flat rolled) business that will focus on products and markets with significant technical barriers to entry,” Harshman said.
ATI said the layoffs will are expected to generate more than US$30 millon in annualized cost savings beginning in the third quarter.
Metals industry analyst John Tumazos told the (Pittsburgh) Tribune-Review newspaper that the announcement is reason for pessimism.
“They're just downsizing, and they're not holding their breath to recapture any of the volume they lost,” said Tumazos, president and chief executive of his firm, Tumazos Very Independent Research. “They're hunkering down, and they're not waiting for something to bring the volume back.”
