Supplier's plan to reduce U.S. job force includes Ohio

The company has already been trimming its local hourly and salaried work force.
STAFF/WIRE REPORT
DAYTON -- Automotive supplier Delphi Corp. said Friday that it plans to eliminate 3,000 U.S. jobs next year and some of the cuts will be in Ohio.
The auto parts maker is the parent company of Warren-based Delphi Packard Electric Systems, which employs more than 5,000 in the Mahoning Valley and makes electrical wiring systems for vehicles.
Delphi employs about 13,500 workers in Ohio at its plants in the Warren area, Dayton, Columbus and Sandusky.
No specifics
"The extent of the impact has not yet been determined," said Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams. He said no decision has been made on which plants would be affected.
He said any elimination of jobs would be done by attrition, giving workers incentives to retire, or offering them jobs at General Motors Corp. plants should openings there occur.
"We do not have the plan solidified and rolled out to employees yet as to how we're going to reduce the jobs," said Ann Cornell Vickers, Delphi Packard's local spokeswoman. "We are reducing the head count everywhere, but I don't know how many are coming from Packard."
Worldwide, Delphi plans to cut 8,500 jobs -- or 4.6 percent of its 186,500 employees. Delphi is among several auto suppliers that have warned of lower-than-anticipated earnings because of higher materials expenses, particularly for steel, and because top U.S. automakers GM and Ford plan to turn out fewer vehicles.
GM, Delphi's biggest customer, and Ford both recently announced lower production schedules for the first quarter of 2005 vs. this year's first quarter. Delphi is a former GM division and has worked aggressively to expand its non-GM business.
Expected losses
Delphi also said Friday it expects to lose between $57 million and $77 million this year and $350 million in 2005.
Delphi Packard has already been trimming its local hourly and salaried work force in recent years. It has about 3,900 workers who are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and about 1,400 salaried workers.
Fewer workers than expected in April took a company-paid incentive early retirement incentive to leave. Those 306 who left this year will not be replaced.
Delphi Packard also has said it intends to cut the number of contract workers it uses locally. An undetermined number of the 128 contract workers at Packard's local plants were to be cut, starting in November. Most of the contract workers are employed by The Bartech Group, which is based in Michigan, and work at Packard's test center in Champion.
On the other hand, the company invested $35 million this year and last to improve its Mahoning Valley plants.
It recently has spent $100 million to remodel a plant in Cortland and build a new plant in Vienna. Both plants produce plastic parts using injection molding machines. Packard is also investing $15 million in upgrading its metal stamping operation at its North River Road plant.
Delphi also announced Friday that it was placing two Dayton-area operations into its Automotive Holdings Group, a unit the company formed to restore plant profitability or improve underperforming plants. The plants are in suburban Kettering and Vandalia.
Warning
Last week, Delphi told workers at another one of its Vandalia plants that it will be closed unless changes are made to reduce operating costs. The plant employs about 400 people and makes products such as door trim, door panels, instrument panels and air bags.
The company's announcement follows the elimination of between 9,100 and 9,200 jobs in the first three quarters of this year.
Manufacturing jobs in the Valley have been whittled to 45,000, compared with 59,200 in 1995. Much of the reduction has come as the largest manufacturers -- General Motors and Delphi Packard -- have scaled back their local work force as they become more efficient.