OmniSource cuts Fort Wayne work force by 135 because of recession

Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly

OmniSource laid off about 14 percent of its work force in the Fort Wayne area Tuesday because of the recession.

About 135 positions were eliminated from the total Fort Wayne work force of 954, said Ben Eisbart, vice president of human resources. Hourly employees and management were among those laid off, he said.

The company eliminated a total of 207 jobs throughout its locations in the Midwest. Eisbart said that a year ago, when the economy still was running strong, OmniSource added many new employees to handle increased demand. Once the markets and demand fell, those people were not needed.

"The economic climate caused us to realign ourselves," Eisbart said. "We want to be poised to participate in the recovery."

Fort Wayne-based steel maker Steel Dynamics purchased OmniSource, a scrap metal processor and recycler, in late 2007. SDI acquired all of the outstanding stock in OmniSource, then a privately held company also based in Fort Wayne, for $1.1 billion and made the company an SDI subsidiary. SDI also consolidated its scrap operations into OmniSource.

Eisbart said no Steel Dynamics employees were cut.

In SDI's first-quarter earnings announcement, Chairman and CEO Keith Busse said ferrous metals recycling, one of OmniSource's operations, ran at 42 percent capacity because of economic conditions. Steel mills ran at 46 percent capacity during the quarter.

SDI employees were working fewer hours and were receiving lower production bonuses, Busse said in the first-quarter announcement.