By Brian Peloza, Times
Federal-Mogul Corp.'s struggles continued in the first quarter of 2009 and several employees at its Frankfort plant will pay the price.
Sixty-five employees at the Frankfort facility will be laid off, according to Paula Silver, the company's director of corporate communications.
"(This is) due to declining customer orders by the end of May," she said in a brief e-mail statement to The Times. "There are no plans, at this time, for more layoffs next month."
It's the second round of layoffs at the city's Federal-Mogul plant this year. Fifty-five workers lost their job in January. The Frankfort plant employs 450 people.
Silver could not recall when the employees were notified of this most recent round of layoffs.
"We heard they were going to be laying people off, but we didn't know when or how many," said Shan Sheridan, assistant director of the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce. "It's always tough to see layoffs happen."
Being so dependent on the struggling auto industry, Federal-Mogul has been suffering financially.
Federal-Mogul had a negative cash flow of $196 million for the first quarter of 2009, according to financial numbers released by the company on Tuesday.
Sales dropped to $1.238 million for the first quarter, compared to $1.859 million for the same quarter last year.
As of the end of the 2009 first quarter, Federal-Mogul employs 40,000 people globally. That figure marks a decline of 20 percent over the same time period last year.
The company has eliminated 2,500 positions during the last quarter, closing plants in Summerton, S.C., and Dumas, Ark.
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