ESAB announces restructuring, Florence job cuts

FLORENCE — A restructuring announced Tuesday by ESAB Welding and Cutting Products will eliminate jobs at the company’s Florence site, but officials said they do not know how many at this point.

“Until we assess the situation, we don’t know what the impact will be,” Daniel L. Preest, vice president of human resources at ESAB, said.

When asked if he had any idea how many jobs might be lost, Preest declined to speculate.

“We don’t want to make any estimates,” Preest said. “We feel its our responsibility to communicate that to our employees first.”

Preest said company officials most likely will know within the next two weeks exactly how many jobs will be cut. Employees affected by the reorganization will be provided 60 days notice of their last day of employment.

Though the changes will affect the company’s employee base, ESAB officials said in a press release issued Tuesday that the company remains committed to the North American market and its customers.

Under the new structure to be implemented by the end of the year, the manufacture of gantry cutting machines, arc equipment and plasma power supplies will be transitioned to other global factories.

The research and development of plasma processes, the production of plasma systems and the manufacture of torches and consumables for sale to the rest of the ESAB Global group, as well as its North American customers, will remain in Florence.

In addition, the Florence facility will continue to manufacture and sell Steel Industry Products, gas apparatus equipment and consumables. Mechanicized cutting machine technology in North America will continue to be marketed and supported with the service and aftermarket organization based in Florence. The Florence facility also will continue to provide centralized services, including customer service, marketing, accounting, human resources, IT and supply chain for North America, the release said.

According to ESAB officials, the goal of the restructuring plan is to focus the company’s efforts on the best practices in manufacturing to highlight their expertise and quality while encouraging growth.

“We are continuing to be cautious about the economic outlook and are therefore moving forward with re-engineering efforts to optimize our manufacturing base and focus our product offerings to truly support our customers,” ESAB President and CEO Brendan Colgan said. “ESAB is financially strong, and we believe these efforts will put us in a better position to remain profitable and free up additional resources that will be reinvested in the business to make sure we can take competitive advantage of opportunities as the economy recovers.”

In April, ESAB laid off about 90 employees at its Florence site on South Ebenezer Road. Twenty salaried employees were laid off in early February throughout the company’s North American locations including Florence.

At the time of the Florence layoffs, the Morning News was provided with documents showing the loss of more than 750 jobs company-wide. Among the jobs being eliminated, according to those documents, were those filled by lab technicians; research chemists; chemical, electrical, mechanical, manufacturing and applications engineers; test welders; administrative assistants, draftsmen; customer service representatives; electricians; machinists; network administrators; assemblers; technicians; welders; material handlers; tool makers; inside and outside sales representatives; packers; mechanics; metal preparation specialists; sheetmetal operators; regional sales managers, strategic accounts managers; and generalists.

The Florence facility was established in 1969 under Union Carbide, then became Linde/L-Tec, which was acquired in the ’80s by ESAB.

ESAB was Florence County’s third-largest industrial/manufacturing employer in 2008, with an estimated 650 employees, according to the Florence County Economic Development Partnership.