Pennsylvania-Based Global Manufacturer To Close Arkansas Plant; 120 Losing Jobs

October 2, 2008 9:58 a.m. EST

(AHN) - Global tooling, engineered components and advanced materials supplier Kennametal Inc., announced it will close its Bentonville plant on Dec. 31, leaving 120 people without work.

The northwest Arkansas plant has operated for 50 years.

Pennsylvania-based Kennametal is in the midst of a restructuring process that will also affect other plants around the country.

Company officials reportedly expects to save $3.2 million a year by closing the Bentonville plant and moving the carbide drill and burr manufacturing to a plant in Ashboro, N.C. The 520 jobs at the Rogers plant won't be affected, company officials said.

Kennametal has annual sales of $2.7 billion, with about half of that revenue coming from outside North America and employs 14,000 workers in more than 60 countries.

Closing the Bentonville plant is not a sign that the company is in trouble, in fact, parts of the business are expanding.

Kennametal is a manufacturer of metal-cutting equipment and also a manufacturer of cutting equipment for nonmetals, which is known as advanced materials.

The advanced materials component of the company is expanding. Kennametal is in the middle of purchasing Tricon Metals & Services of Birmingham, Ala. and expects to close on the sale by the end of October.

Kennametal products are used in applications in sectors such as aerospace and defense, energy, earthworks, transportation, durable goods and specialty applications, according to the company website.

Although closing the Bentonville plant isn't a sign of trouble for Kennametal, with its 60-nation global workforce of 14,000 employees, it is a sign of trouble for Arkansas.

The job losses that will come in December at the Bentonville plant follows a string of other manufacturing job losses in the state. According to reports, manufacturing jobs in Arkansas dropped from 188,600 in August of 2007 to 182,600 at the end of August 2008, or a decline of 3.18 percent.