Amweld sending local product lines to Mexico

Amweld Building Products is closing plants in Niles and Garrettsville and moving its production of metal doors and door frames to Mexico.

The company employs 100 in Niles and 170 in Garrettsville, although not all of the jobs are being lost.

Amweld is moving its headquarters from Garrettsville, which is in Portage County, to Stow, which is in Summit County. It is moving 45 salaried workers from its current headquarters to its new one.

Also, the Stow site will have a distribution center with some light manufacturing. The company is talking to the United Steelworkers of America, which represents hourly workers, about plans to staff the distribution center, said Joel Christman, chief financial officer for Ark II Manufacturing, Amweld’s parent company.

The move of the manufacturing plants to Monterrey, Mexico, is to be completed in coming months, he said.

For more, see Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com