Plasan Carbon Composites will close its Bennington auto parts manufacturing facility in May, displacing 143 employees. The company will consolidate operations with an existing plant in Walker, Mich.
A company spokesperson said all employees will be provided with severance packages, plus “retention bonuses” if they stay at the plant through its closure. An unknown number of workers may be able to relocate to Michigan.
PCC’s sister company, Plasan USA, Inc., will maintain operations in Bennington. Plasan USA manufactures ballistic personnel and aircraft armor for the defense industry. The parent firm, Plasan North America, and other holdings in France, are owned by Israel-based Plasan Israel.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, and Rep. Bill Botzow, D-Bennington, said the state’s priority will be to help connect laid-off workers with new employment opportunities as soon as possible.
“We will be coordinating efforts with Commissioner Annie Noonan and the Department of Labor to ensure these workers have access to all available State and Federal resources,” Sears said in a statement.
“It is my priority that those without employment will be able to return to the workforce quickly,” Botzow added.
PCC formed in 2006 when Plasan bought the automotive division of a company called Vermont Composites. PCC claims to be North America’s leading provider of carbon fiber automotive components. It makes hood and roof parts for the 2014 Corvette Stingray and structural components for the Dodge Viper, among other products.
Strong and lightweight carbon fiber auto parts are in growing demand due to new fuel efficiency standards for cars.
One southern Vermont economic development official said that, while disappointing, it makes sense for Plasan to move its auto-related manufacturing closer to the hub of the auto supply chain.
Peter Odierna, executive director of Bennington County Industrial Corp., said he heard the news Thursday morning that PCC would be closing.
“It came as a surprise and it’s clearly a setback,” Odierna said. “However, it’s not the first manufacturing business that’s closed here in Bennington and it won’t be the last.”
Odierna said his first priority will be to assist the workers facing layoffs, and then to find another business to fill the physical space. He said BCIC staff have a strong history of redeveloping empty industrial facilities, including the facilitation of Vermont Timber Frames’ move into the former Bennington Iron Works facility two years ago.
For the near-term, Department of Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan said a full spectrum of state services will be mobilized to assist laid off workers: education and job retraining, placement assistance and financial support for re-employment, and unemployment compensation after the workers are separated from their positions and after their severance pay ends.
Noonan added that the department will file for a National Emergency Grant and a Trade Act petition to secure additional resources for the workers.
Odierna said that even though the news of PCC’s departure is a “body blow,” the cluster of carbon composite manufacturers that’s begun to emerge in Bennington is still strong and holds potential for growth.
In addition to Plasan USA, which will remain in town, the firm Kaman serves as another industry anchor in Bennington. Kaman is a publicly traded corporation that in 2011 acquired the parts of Vermont Composites that Plasan hadn’t bought earlier — most notably its aerospace and medical equipment manufacturing divisions.
“Everything I’m hearing is that the acquisition is complete and integration is on schedule,” Odierna said. “There are still very compelling opportunities in both commercial and military aerospace fields here.”
Chris Carrigan, vice president of business development with the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, said Kaman’s recent announcement that it would become a supply chain integrator for Boeing is a sign of promise. Carrigan said Kaman’s diversified business model is increasingly important for weathering the peaks and valleys of industry trends.
K&E Plastics, which machines plastic parts for a range of markets, expanded in Bennington in July.
