Best Textiles to close Mississippi tablecloth plant
Hattiesburg.com (Mississippi, USA)
WEST POINT – Best Textiles International, a tablecloth and linen producer, will close its West Point plant and move 30 jobs to Cambodia and Mexico, officials said.
The company plans to lay off workers within the next two to three weeks. It will help workers file for unemployment and seek “programs to assist them in finding other jobs within the area,” said Calvin Barnhardt, vice president of human resources for Dan River Inc., a sister company of Illinois-based Best Textiles International.
Barnhardt said Best Textiles’ competitors are marketing identical products manufactured in other countries at a lower cost.
“Our customers are not willing to pay a higher price just to get a U.S.-made product,” Barnhardt said. “Like it or not, we had to start sourcing products from other countries.”
Best Textiles International will continue to own and operate a retail store and a distribution center in West Point, Barnhardt said.
The closing means West Point will have lost three plants this year.
On May 1, Flexible Flyer, a century-old toy producer owned by Moscow, Tenn.-based Troxel Co., announced it was closing its West Point plant and laying off 100 workers. Sara Lee Food and Beverage Corp. closed its West Point facility in March, leaving more than 1,200 people unemployed.
Barnhardt said Best Textiles International owns a manufacturing plant in Cambodia that employs several thousand workers and a smaller plant in Mexico that employs between 1,400 and 1,500 workers. He said the company most likely will open another manufacturing facility outside the U.S.
“Along with other companies in the institutional textile industry, our domestic operations have been negatively impacted by the globalization of the textile industry and the lower prices available from suppliers in other parts of the world,” said Best Textiles International Chief Operating Officer Ben Shoaf in a statement this week.
Best Textiles International was formed in February to acquire the holdings of Best Manufacturing Group which has been involved in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Best Textiles International in turn is owned by GHCL Limited, a publicly held company in India.
The company plans to lay off workers within the next two to three weeks. It will help workers file for unemployment and seek “programs to assist them in finding other jobs within the area,” said Calvin Barnhardt, vice president of human resources for Dan River Inc., a sister company of Illinois-based Best Textiles International.
Barnhardt said Best Textiles’ competitors are marketing identical products manufactured in other countries at a lower cost.
“Our customers are not willing to pay a higher price just to get a U.S.-made product,” Barnhardt said. “Like it or not, we had to start sourcing products from other countries.”
Best Textiles International will continue to own and operate a retail store and a distribution center in West Point, Barnhardt said.
The closing means West Point will have lost three plants this year.
On May 1, Flexible Flyer, a century-old toy producer owned by Moscow, Tenn.-based Troxel Co., announced it was closing its West Point plant and laying off 100 workers. Sara Lee Food and Beverage Corp. closed its West Point facility in March, leaving more than 1,200 people unemployed.
Barnhardt said Best Textiles International owns a manufacturing plant in Cambodia that employs several thousand workers and a smaller plant in Mexico that employs between 1,400 and 1,500 workers. He said the company most likely will open another manufacturing facility outside the U.S.
“Along with other companies in the institutional textile industry, our domestic operations have been negatively impacted by the globalization of the textile industry and the lower prices available from suppliers in other parts of the world,” said Best Textiles International Chief Operating Officer Ben Shoaf in a statement this week.
Best Textiles International was formed in February to acquire the holdings of Best Manufacturing Group which has been involved in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Best Textiles International in turn is owned by GHCL Limited, a publicly held company in India.
1 comment:
No, no, just move everything here.
Forget mexico, it is more
profitable here. The more jobs you
give us, the more profits you will
make.
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