Winchester GE plant, last in U.S. to make incandescent bulbs, will turn out the lights
Published: July 24, 2009
WINCHESTER— General Electric says it likely will shut down its Winchester light bulb plant next summer.
The company said Thursday that about half of the 203 employees at GE Consumer & Industrial’s Winchester Lamp Plant will be eligible for a full GE retirement package if the plant shuts down in July 2010.
Company officials said industrywide changes in lighting-efficiency standards will make the light bulbs produced at the plan obsolete.
Employees can offer cost-saving alternatives to closing the plant. Company officials said the ideas will be considered and a final decision on its closing will be made within 60 days.
The plant, which opened in 1975, is the last of GE’s U.S. facilities dedicated to incandescent light bulb production.
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Reader Reactions
Incandescent bulbs are antique relics, primitive and hideously wasteful. They turn the vast majority of the energy they consume into heat, not light. CFLs have pros and cons, but LEDs are the wave of the future, and I’m sure there will be more technological improvements to come.
Some of you guys need to take a powder!
John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock
(MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6 am
While his coffeepot
(MADE IN CHINA )
was perking, he shaved with his
electric razor
(MADE IN HONG KONG )
He put on a
dress shirt
(MADE IN SRI LANKA ),
designer jeans
(MADE IN SINGAPORE )
and
tennis shoes
(MADE IN KOREA)
After cooking his breakfast in his new
electric skillet
(MADE IN INDIA )
he sat down with his
calculator
(MADE IN MEXICO )
to see how much he could spend today. After setting his
watch
(MADE IN TAIWAN )
to the radio
(MADE IN INDIA )
he got in his car
(MADE IN GERMANY )
filled it with GAS
(from Saudi Arabia )
and continued his search
for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.
At the end of yet another discouraging
and fruitless day
checking his
Computer
(made in MALAYSIA ),
John decided to relax for a while.
He put on his sandals
(MADE IN BRAZIL ),
poured himself a glass of
wine
(MADE IN FRANCE )
and turned on his
TV
(MADE IN INDONESIA ),
and then wondered why he can’t
find a good paying job
in AMERICA
AND NOW HE’S HOPING HE CAN GET HELP FROM A PRESIDENT
MADE IN KENYA
Great. We are replacing incandescent bulbs with a light bulb in which you have to call a HAZMAT team if it breaks. 25 years from now the biggest crises in America will be Mercury poisoning. I know not what course others may take; but as for me, I’m stocking up on incandescent bulbs. Wake me up when they make a safe energy efficient bulb.
GE can’t make the CFL’s in the US profitable. The bulb’s have mercury and the manufacturer’s in China don’t care how many people they kill making these bulbs. Their motto is “We don’t care - We’ll make more”(Chinese people)
It’s GE (for the uninformed - their CEO is a far, far left loony) - they’ll probably open a new factory in Iran and manufacture ‘bulbs’ for them…
UUH, Instead of closing the plant, why don’t they just re-tool it to produce the CFL’s?!?!?!
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