Sylvania plant to phase out 97 workers to lose jobs over 2 years at Bangor site

BANGOR – Osram Sylvania will close its precision components manufacturing facility here within the next two years and move its production of lead wires for light bulbs to Mexico. About 97 people will lose their jobs.

On Wednesday, after conducting two meetings with employees, plant manager Tim Magoon said that the workers were disappointed and that the closure of the facility was unexpected. In recent years, sales of lead wires had been down, he said, and more than 50 jobs had been lost through layoffs and attrition during the last few years.

Magoon complimented the workers on the quality of the parts made in the 42,000-square-foot facility alongside Interstate 95, but added that labor costs associated with making the lead wires are putting the company at a competitive disadvantage.

“From a cost situation, you can’t make them in the U.S.,” Magoon said. “With some products, it’s cheaper to have them made overseas because of labor costs.”

In a statement, Frank Santiago, executive vice president and general manager of Osram Sylvania’s precision materials and components division in Danvers, Mass., said the Bangor closure is intended “to keep us financially healthy and competitive.”

“Significantly lower labor costs in the Far East are having an especially negative impact on pricing for lead wires and, as a result, we can no longer manufacture this product competitively in the United States,” Santiago said.

Osram Sylvania is buying a small Mexican company that already makes lead wires for another division of Osram. The Bangor operations will be transferred to that plant, called Mapresa, located in Monterrey.

Osram Sylvania’s Bangor plant employs 79 hourly and 18 salaried workers. Magoon, who also is plant manager for Osram’s Waldoboro facility, said that on average the Bangor employees have 18 years of experience. Layoffs will begin “at the earliest” in January, he said.

“These jobs do pay well,” Magoon said. “I think for the area they’re very competitive, probably above average.” Magoon would not reveal average wages.

The pending Osram Sylvania closing follows a long string of plant shutdowns or job layoffs in the state because manufacturers have chosen to produce their goods in other countries. The list of layoffs includes 50 people at Osram’s Waldoboro plant who were told in June that the work they do in Maine now will be done in the Czech Republic. Other job losses were experienced at the Hathaway shirt factory in Waterville, which shut down earlier this month and displaced more than 200 people, and at Great Northern Paper Co. in Millinocket, where 200 people were laid off last month.

Kent Inc. in Fort Kent, a manufacturer of blanket sleepers for infants and toddlers, could close within a month if it doesn’t receive an infusion of cash. Company officials cite competition from U.S. manufacturers with operations overseas as the reason for possible closure and the layoff of more than 180 people.

More than 500 types of lead wires are made in Bangor for fluorescent, incandescent and other types of light bulbs. Osram Sylvania spokeswoman Cynthia Dooley said most of the light bulbs are used in businesses, and the company’s primary customers have been builders or renovators.

But the construction of new office buildings has slowed, she said, and businesses trying to save on energy costs are not using as many bulbs.

“I’ve heard of businesses taking out every other light bulb to save on energy costs,” Dooley said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Magoon said he had not contacted the state Department of Labor so its rapid response team could meet with workers about unemployment benefits, but he planned to do so soon. Also, Osram Sylvania will apply for federal job assistance benefits for people who lose their jobs because their work was moved overseas.

Osram Sylvania is the North American operation of Osram GmbH of Germany, the second-largest lighting manufacturer in the world and part of Siemens, a diversified international electrical and electronics company.