New York Jobs in Manufacturing Cut

With Wall Street Woes taking the front page, less is being said about the number of New York Jobs lost in the manufacturing industry. Recently Kaz Inc. announced that it will be shutting the doors at its manufacturing plant in Hudson, New York.

Altogether the company has 350 employees in Hudson. This makes Kaz the largest manufacture in Columbia county, which means that the loss of these jobs will impact the areas economy.
The plant will cause the loss of over 300 New York jobs. The Massachusetts-based company has decided to outsource the work done at its plant to Mexico. The jobs will be phased out between now and June of 2009.

Richard Katzman, who is the president and CEO of the company says that Kaz already outsources most of its manufacturing needs. He disputes the claim that the company is seeking cheaper labor as the only reason Katz is doing this.

“From a business point of view, it wasn’t even close,” said Katzman. “We are not chasing a lower-cost business environment. We are changing our business model--that’s a more profound change.”

Despite this, he admits that Mexico was chosen over China as the new location for this work because labor costs in the Asian country are also rising.

According to Katzman, the switch will begin in December, but most of these New York jobs will be lost between March and April of next year. Out of the 350 workers at the plant, 50 will be retained in Hudson to handle human resources, customer service, distribution and a variety of other tasks. He says these individuals will remain even after the plant is closed for good.

Katz was founded over 70 years ago and remains a family owned business. It currently has at least 17 locations across the globe, with operations in China, Taiwan and Spain in addition to the Mexico and American facilities. Katz produces a variety of products including humidifers, bug zappers, heaters, fans and thermometers. It’s products are sold at such major retailers as Wal-Mart, CVS and Home Depot.