Superior Plant Closing Latest In Manufacturing Decline

A Rogers factory will close by the end of the year.

Superior Industries officials announced Wednesday the Rogers plant will close, cutting more than 500 jobs.

Meanwhile, South Coast Baking Co. is set to open its new facility in Springdale on Sept. 1, eventually adding 150 jobs to the workforce.

"You've got to be careful not to use any one particular event as the story for what's going on in manufacturing," said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas.

The national manufacturing industry has been in decline over the last 40 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Northwest Arkansas, the number of manufacturing employees has been steady this year, ranging between 26,200 and 26,300.

Those numbers represent the metropolitan statistical area that includes Washington, Benton and Madison counties in Arkansas and McDonald County, Mo.

Many U.S. manufacturing jobs have gone overseas, and improving technology over the last 40 years has led to an overall decline in manufacturing employment, Deck said. Still, there's an ebb and flow in manufacturing year over year.

She said eliminating 500 jobs at one time could statistically skew the area's unemployment rate by 0.2 or 0.3 percent. June's unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, unchanged since May and down from June 2013's 6.1 percent.

Roger Pondel, a Superior spokesman, said the layoffs will be incremental through the end of the year.

The company, which produces aluminum wheels for passenger cars and light-duty vehicles, will save $15 million in labor costs year over year, according to a news release. The Van Nuys, Calif.-based company also has a plant in Fayetteville and three in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Workers laid off in the next several months will receive severance packages, and some may assimilate into the Fayetteville plant as positions open. The Fayetteville plant employs about 700.

"If there are openings in Fayetteville, top considerations will be given to employees," said Pondel.

The Governor's Dislocated Worker Task Force has been in touch with the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce, said Raymond Burns, president and chief executive officer of the chamber. The task force will assist those who were laid off by helping them find new work.

The chamber also will hold a job fair Oct. 8.

Burns said the business climate in the U.S. isn't conducive to the manufacturing industry, including the automotive industry, because it's competitive and many jobs in the field have been pushed offshore.

"We're grateful that the Fayetteville plant is still here, but our first concern will be for the 500 or so folks that are going to lose their jobs here in Rogers," Burns said.

South Coast Baking is accepting applications, said Kent Hayden, chief operating officer for the company. The company manufactures and sells frozen cookie dough to distributors such as Panera Bread and Sam's Club.

Company officials announced its expansion to 800 S. 40th St. last October.

The factory will ultimately employ 150, Hayden said. Applications are available on the company's website.

The Northwest Arkansas Council works to communicate with national companies and share with them the opportunities for expansion available to them in Northwest Arkansas.

"We reach out to a lot of companies each year, so we have a pretty big mailing list," said Michael Harvey, chief operating officer of the council.

Harvey said there are many skilled workers in Northwest Arkansas, and there is demand for them at companies across the country. He said he hopes the council will be able to help some of the workers who were laid off find new work where their skills are needed.

"The outlook's good, but over the short term, there's going to be some pain here for people who lost their jobs," Harvey said.

NW News on 07/31/2014