Copper costs force closure of Valley firm
Jane Larson
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 22, 2005 12:00 AM
azcentral.com
A Chandler company that supplies a key ingredient for printed circuit boards said Wednesday that it will lay off 220 employees and close by April, squeezed by high copper costs and global competition.
Gould Electronics Inc. said it will close its manufacturing plant, which opened in 1978, and its headquarters.
Employees will work through March to build inventory and give manufacturers time to switch to other suppliers, Gould spokesman Jim Roop said. They will be offered severance packages and outplacement services. advertisement
"This is an extremely difficult situation, particularly because of the personal issues involved," Gould President David Burgess said in a statement. "We regret the impact it will have on our employees, their families and the community."
Gould manufactures copper foil used in printed circuit boards, the thin plates that hold computer chips and other electronic components inside cellphones, computers, and medical and industrial equipment. The plant was the most advanced of Gould's U.S. production facilities and, until now, had absorbed other operations as Gould closed them, Roop said.
There is no lack of demand for copper foil, Roop said. Demand for printed circuit boards has been running ahead of supply for more than a year, according to statistics from IPC, a trade association.
Rather, the company said, the closing was prompted by the high cost of raw copper, a depressed U.S. market and competitive world pricing.
Copper prices rose 43 percent last year and continued rising this year, fueled by worldwide economic growth.
The circuit board industry has gone through drastic change in the past five years.
About half of the companies have either closed or left the United States, "and business hasn't come back," Roop said.
IPC spokeswoman Kim Sterling said the industry has undergone a great deal of consolidation, coupled with a manufacturing shift to China.
The industry "really took a hit" during 2000 and 2001, she said, but insiders initially thought it was due to Y2K and telecommunications overbuying. Then the growth of manufacturing in China began to hurt the U.S. industry, she said.
"Companies that are going to survive need to specialize, or find a niche like military or medical (products)," Sterling said. "High-volume manufacturing is certainly gone from this country."
Gould is a subsidiary of Nikko Materials Co. Ltd., a unit of Japanese conglomerate Nippon Mining Holdings Inc.
The company is considering supplying the U.S. market from its copper-foil operations in Germany, Japan or the Philippines, Roop said.
Gould has not determined what it will do with the plant, on Chandler Boulevard east of Loop 101, Roop said.
Equipment will be transferred to other Nikko operations, sold or scrapped, he said. |
