Crawfordsville-based Raybestos Products to lay off 200 locally in Crawfordsville

Its parent company, Raytech Corp., said in a press release the move is a strategy to improve production and profitability.

The “reduction in workforce” will take place in stages beginning this quarter. The changes should be complete by the second quarter of 2005, said Brian Saunders, material manager and part of the company’s negotiating team.

Raybestos is a worldwide manufacturer of wet and dry clutch, power transmission and brake systems, along with related specialty products. The company moved its headquarters to Crawfordsville this year.

Raybestos will cease steel stamping altogether. It may also move its heavy duty paper assembly plant to a site closer to a supplier, Saunders said. He would not say where that might be or name the supplier. “It is just not public information at this time,” he said.

Raybestos employs 491 union workers and 104 salaried workers. Saunders said the reduction of about 200 will impact a third of the “total” workforce. He declined to break down numbers by category.

Raytech also announced Tuesday it began discussions with union representatives in Crawfordsville on ways to “improve the plant’s productivity and profitability, including relocating certain of the remaining Crawfordsville operations to other more cost competitive locations or finding ways to match such cost savings benefits in the Crawfordsville location.” The company’s contract with the union expires in May.

Saunders said employees in three shifts were being notified beginning Tuesday night.

“It’s very sad news,” Crawfordsville Mayor John Zumer said. “You can’t minimize the impact a lost job has on an employee.”

Zumer met with Raybestos officials recently to see if he could help. “In a global economy,” Zumer said, “any local government really doesn’t have all that much power as far as balancing the books of a business.”

Zumer said city officials are grateful to the area’s long-time employers. But the Raybestos layoffs underscore the need to diversify the types of businesses here and to develop Crawfordsville Commerce Park, “which we’ll certainly do.”