Following a month of uncertainty, Pittsburgh Glass Works (PGW) officially announced it will close its oldest auto glass manufacturing plant in Creighton, Pa. The phased close-out of production at the facility is anticipated to take place in June 2018.
In October, company president and CEO Joe Stas expressed concern regarding the location’s future, stating that it was facing a culmination of challenges, primarily significant utility upgrades and infrastructure improvements which would be needed to continue production investments.
“Despite our extraordinary group of employees and colleagues at Creighton – including some unique work that has never been done before in glass-pressing technology – the facility faces a combination of serious challenges,” he said in the company’s press release.
The company was in discussion with the United Steel Workers (USW) organization, working together to produce long-term solutions for the challenges facing the Creighton plant. However, they were not able to reach a viable solution, according to the company’s press release.
The 130-year-old plant currently has 193 hourly workers and is one of eight of the company’s automotive glass manufacturing plants in the United States.
“We appreciate our discussions with the USW regarding Creighton’s future, but there was a combination of difficult realities we faced,” said Stas. “Together, we jointly reviewed every realistic business scenario and all factors led to the reality of Creighton’s closure in 2018. We are now turning our attention to ensuring our employees receive the benefits and other assistance that they and their families will need through this transition in 2018.”
The first phase of the production transition will take place in January 2018, with a shift of certain customer orders to be fulfilled at the company’s Evansville, Ind., location, the press release states. Creighton’s second production line will stay in operation until summer of 2018 until the facility closes its doors in June.
