DuPont has cut nearly 300 contractor positions at its Richmond-area locations in recent months because of the global economic slowdown, a company executive said yesterday.
The local job cuts are part of a larger corporate work-force reduction of about 2,500 DuPont employees and 4,000 contractor jobs, primarily at the company's U.S. and European operations.
DuPont, based in Wilmington, Del., announced the job cuts and other cost-saving measures yesterday, blaming a severe slowdown in the automobile industry, construction and consumer spending that has reduced demand for its products.
The company said it expects to report a fourth-quarter loss of 20 cents to 30 cents per share, excluding restructuring charges of about 40 cents per share.
Products manufactured at the company's Spruance plant in Chesterfield County include Tyvek, a material used in construction to insulate and protect building structures, but job reductions and cost-savings measures are spread across all business units, said Joe Internicola, the Spruance plant manager.
At the Richmond-area operations, "we have actually been responding to the business environment going back several months," Internicola said. "We have been focusing primarily on reducing costs and conserving cash."
Other products the company makes locally include Kevlar, a bullet-resistant material used in military and law-enforcement gear, and the fire-resistant material Nomex.
DuPont employs about 3,000 people in the area, Internicola said, but he declined to release the number of total contract workers. Locally, 50 to 75 DuPont employees have been redeployed to positions previously held by contract workers, he said. The number varies depending on needs, he added.
Internicola said he could not speculate on whether further job cuts will be necessary.
"The economic situation is very dynamic at this point, so we are continually revising our plans to fit the changing conditions," he said.
J.D. Greer, president of the Ampthill Rayon Workers union, which represents about 1,300 Spruance workers, said the union was told yesterday that no other jobs at the plant are immediately at risk.
"They are doing what they can not to lay off," Greer said of DuPont. "It is a pretty highly trained work force here."
Other cost-saving measures include reducing overtime, Greer and Internicola said.
DuPont is halting discretionary spending companywide and temporarily idling more than 100 manufacturing units, executives said on a conference call with analysts. It also plans work-schedule reductions.
The company has targeted about $130 million in cost reductions from its restructuring plan and $600 million in fixed-cost productivity improvements in 2009.
Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or jblackwell@timesdispatch.com.
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