Vinyl building products producer to close

STAFF REPORT

AUSTINTOWN — Vinyl Source, a company that produces vinyl building products such as decking and fencing, will be closed by Nov. 8, and 72 workers will be unemployed.

In a letter to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Charles Spaulding, executive vice president of VEKA Inc., the company that owns the Austintown-based plant, said the decision to close the plant was made because of substantial monetary losses.

“The plant closure is due to an unforeseeable business circumstance,” Spaulding said in the letter. “Specifically... plant operations have caused very substantial financial losses and recently we were advised that [the plant’s] bank will no longer extend credit if [its] losses continue.”

Vinyl Source employs 24 packers, 20 operators, 19 supervisors, three electricians, three mechanics, two set-up workers and one laborer.

The closing of the plant, 427 Thatcher Lane, is expected to be permanent, and terminations will begin Sept. 25.