PORT ALLEGANY – Concern and alarm spread through the Port
Allegany area after last Thursday night’s terse announcement by
management that Pittsburgh Corning would close down one of its two
melters (tanks) and its associated production line in about two
months.

The change has the sound of being permanent, or at least not a
short-term stoppage to cut back production temporarily.

The official announcement to the media mentioned efforts to ease
the transition of affected employees toward retirement or other
employment. This seems to indicate the jobs are being eliminated on
a permanent basis.

According to sources inside the workforce, the job loss number,
officially announced as “less than 50,” will be closer to 60, if
supervisory personnel tied to that melter are terminated along with
the union members.

If the layoff of around 40 workers in the past several months
does not end with their recall, the total decline in employment at
the Port Allegany facility would be about 100.

One source provided some of the background of the current
situation, and the possible outcomes for employees, as explained to
them by management including Pittsburgh Corning Chief Executive
Officer and Chairman Phillip Martineau.

Some employees will be offered “buy-outs” if they opt for early
retirement rather than retraining and out-placement services.

Such employees would be 55 years of age or older, and would have
some seniority.

The source said the union employees’ pension plan is pegged to
$32 per month for each year of service. Thus a 30-year employee
could draw $960 per month until he or she reached Social Security
retirement age.

The retirement and retraining options that will be available to
affected workers will be explained further, the source said, when
Don Tanner of the Pittsburgh office (company headquarters) is
expected to meet with employees on Nov. 29.

As for how it has come to this, the source said there is more to
it than might be supposed, from the official announcement’s mention
of a “general decline in all sectors of the North American glass
block business.”

At least one large shipment of glass blocks from a manufacturer
in China has been imported by Pittsburgh Corning, according to the
source. It includes 8″x8″x3;” 6″x6″x3;” 6″x8″x3;” and 8″x 8″x 2″
(thinline) blocks.

These, and other expected shipments, will be used to fill some
of PC’s orders in the U.S., rather than blocks manufactured in Port
Allegany.

Meanwhile, rather than having up to 4 million blocks in the Port
Allegany warehouse, inventory will be kept at 1 million or less,
the source said, and the company will “make blocks on demand.”

The Chinese blocks are not warehoused in Port Allegany.

All the glass blocks made in North America are made in the Port
Allegany facility.

For some years, the local plant has not made Foamglas, but that
product is made in the Sedalia, Missouri plant.

The former Foamglas manufacturing area of the local facility has
sat idle but not empty, until recently, when “they cleaned out”
that section, equipment and all, according to the source. Plant 2
is empty.

It costs $1.76 to make a typical glass block in Port Allegany,
the source said management has explained, whereas the Chinese
blocks can be purchased for 80 to 84 cents each and shipped for 30
cents apiece.

Some 18 to 19 million blocks were shipped from Port Allegany
last year, the source said, of which about 2 million went to
Mexico. Fulfilling that market has kept overseas manufacturers from
pushing into Mexico, close to PC’s North American market. But such
efforts are costly to the company.

Up to 5 million blocks were sold below cost last year, the
source said.

European manufacturers are another market factor, he noted, with
Italian companies buying glass block making operations in other
European countries.

The company in China from which PC has begun purchasing blocks
is Dezhou Decoration Glass Co., which “specializes in manufacturing
vacuum sealed glass blocks,” according to its Web site.

Dezhou’s Lattice design resembles PC’s Delphi, its Cloudy is
similar to Decora, its Parallel looks a lot like Essex, and its
Clera clones the PC Vue clear block.

The source said the Chinese blocks he has seen have a grayish
tint when viewed from the side, indicating the sand used is not as
oxide free as the sand now used by PC.

The blocks imported are made to inch or imperial dimensions,
rather than metric ones, indicating they were designed and
manufactured for sale in the North American market.

The melter and associated equipment scheduled to be shut down
are in Plant 1A.