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BUSINESS
Steel of West Virginia lays off 52 workers
HUNTINGTON -- Steel of West Virginia has laid off 52 workers as a result of the downturn in the economy, President Tim Duke said Tuesday.
It now has about 374 workers, after having already lost some to attrition this fall, Duke said.
What's been a benefit to the Huntington manufacturer is that it serves several industries, rather than the automotive industry alone, he said. It makes guard rails for the interstates, parts for fork lifts and for mine rails, and several other custom steel products.
In the late 1990s, Steel of West Virginia put about $53 million into modernizing the plant so that it could broaden the variety of steel products it manufactures.
"Between 2008 and 2009, we'll probably spend about $20 million on new equipment to allow us to make other products," Duke said.
The company, located along Ohio River in Huntington, takes scrap steel and makes more than 300,000 tons of products a year, he told The Herald-Dispatch earlier this year. "We ship 7 percent internationally," he said at the time.
Business started to slow down rather suddenly since the summer, he said.
Some customers are making smaller orders and keeping lower inventory, but that means they need to reorder sooner, he said. He sees the company weathering the sluggish economy, though it has to make adjustments.
"There's always a light at the end of the tunnel. It's just a matter of how long that tunnel is," he said.
