Bruce Hardwood Closes Plant

Port Gibson, MS, Oct. 10--The Bruce Hardwood flooring plant in Claiborne County will close for good, eliminating about 140 jobs, a company spokesman said Wednesday, according to the Vicksburg Post. About 25 people remained employed at the plant, though production had stopped, plant manager Reginald Whitfield said Wednesday. Maintenance and shipping of remaining products were continuing, he added. Until Sept. 30, workers at the plant, on Bridewell Lane in east Port Gibson, had produced strips for hardwood flooring for about 18 years. The plant has been operated by Armstrong World Industries Inc., based in Lancaster, PA. Armstrong management cited economic reasons for closing the plant, company spokesman Dorothy Brown-Smith said Wednesday. Wood flooring accounts for nearly one-quarter of Armstrong’s sales, with other building products including floors, ceilings, ceramics and cabinets making up the remainder. The company filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy laws in December 2000. It faces asbestos-related lawsuits, and in the fourth quarter of 2002 it reported an estimated liability for such litigation of $2.5 billion. Leaving aside that amount, the company’s wood-flooring division, of which the Port Gibson plant was a part, reported operating earnings of $53 million during 2002, a year in which the company as a whole reported lower operating earnings, $22.6 million. And the wood-flooring division’s reported results showed improvement from 2001 to 2002, with sales up 9.8 percent in 2002, to $719.3 million, and operating earnings up, by $52.1 million. The Claiborne County location was one of Armstrong’s about 50 plants in 15 countries with about 16,000 employees.