ACK lays off some employees

By AMBER DILLEY
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW January 07, 2009 03:30 pm

— The recent economic struggles are causing some local plants to do things they previously would have never considered.
ACK Controls in Glasgow has had to lay off employees for the first time in the plant’s 18 years in town.
“We laid off 31 people in December,” said Carroll Knicely Jr., plant manager. “This is all because of the economic downturn. We supply Honda and Toyota, so maybe we didn’t see the effects as fast as suppliers of the Big Three, but it’s slowly trickling down.”
Knicely said the layoffs were voluntary.
“If you had asked me two years ago about laying off our people, I would have said we’d never do it,” Knicely said. “We have had to tag this as permanent because we just don’t know when the economy will turn around.”
This may be a first for ACK, but it’s not the first time Dana Corporation has had to cut back plant operations.
According to Amy Fisher, human resources manager for the Glasgow plant, they have had to eliminate the third shift.
“We’ve currently had about 88 people laid off,” Fisher said. “As far as expectations for the future, it’s going to depend on the market and the economy.”
Repeated calls to AMAK Brake Corporation (Akebono) were not returned by press time.
Despite the dismal automotive outlook, local plant officials hope to be able to bring employees back to work.
“We would like to foresee being able to call these people back,” Fisher said. “We hope it could be after the first quarter, but there’s no guarantee, unfortunately.
“We do hope to be able to have them back.”