PINEY FLATS - Bell Helicopter is reducing its global workforce by about 1,100 workers, including about 30 employees at its Piney Flats production facilities, the company announced Tuesday.
“ ... However that number could be lower pending participation in the Voluntary Separation Program we are offering to eligible employees in the United States and Canada,” company spokeswoman Susan Gordon said in an email. “Potentially impacted employees will be notified in the coming weeks and will leave the organization by the end of the summer. Our goal is to provide employees with as much transition time as possible and mitigate the involuntary impact on employees as much as possible.”
The company said these reductions will apply to all areas of the business, both management and non-management, and covered and non-covered workers.
"We are also aggressively reducing cost in every area of our business,” Gordon added. “... While we anticipated and planned for the decreased production of V-22s (military helicopters), we also anticipated the commercial market would rebound – and that did not happen. Across the industry, global commercial orders and deliveries in the medium market continue to be significantly below forecast. In addition we are experiencing reduced customer parts purchase and we continue to feel the effects of (federal government) sequestration. This combination of events is having a significant impact on our business ... Staffing decisions like this are always difficult – but they are necessary to ensure that Bell Helicopter remains a competitive industry leader well into the future."
During 2014, Bell Helicopter's footprint inside the Tri-County Industrial Park was growing with production buildings and business segments employing about 500 people, a company official said in May of last year.
The operation was previously known in Northeast Tennessee as Edwards & Associates, which was founded in 1977. Edwards, with about 50 employees, quietly expanded into international markets, built a larger facility and earned certification as an Federal Aviation Administration repair station and Bell-approved customer service facility.
In 1999, Bell Helicopter and parent company Textron purchased Edwards and its subsidiary companies, and subsequently fully integrated the location by 2011.
Bell had since been adding hundreds of thousands of square feet to accommodate customizing and completing light and medium aircraft for non-military customers.
The company also announced last year it would be a partner with Northeast State Community College in a Northeast Tennessee aviation jobs initiative to train future workers.
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PINEY FLATS - Bell Helicopter is reducing its global workforce by about 1,100 workers, including an unspecified number of employees at its Piney Flats production facilities, the company announced Tuesday.
In an email, the company said these reductions will apply to all areas of the business, both management and non-management, and covered and non-covered workers.
"We will offer a voluntary separation program to all eligible employees in the United States and Canada. Employees will be provided with as much transition time as possible and our goal is to lessen the involuntary impact on our teammates wherever we can," company spokeswoman Susan Gordon said in the email.
"We are also aggressively reducing cost in every area of our business ... While we anticipated and planned for the decreased production of V-22s (helicopters), we also anticipated the commercial market would rebound – and that did not happen. Across the industry, global commercial orders and deliveries in the medium market continue to be significantly below forecast. In addition we are experiencing reduced customer parts purchase and we continue to feel the effects of sequestration. This combination of events is having a significant impact on our business ... Staffing decisions like this are always difficult – but they are necessary to ensure that Bell Helicopter remains a competitive industry leader well into the future."
Original article can be found here: http://www.timesnews.net
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