AMHERST — The high response to last year’s voluntary retirement program has not been enough to stave off financial woes for one of Amherst’s more well-known employers.

Nordson Corp. informed 140 nonsalaried employees at its Jackson Street facility Friday that all will be furloughed the week of Feb. 9. While the employees will be on their unpaid leave, the facility will run on a skeleton crew, said James R. Jaye, director of corporate communications and investor relations for Nordson.

“The economy has forced us to adjust to a lower work volume, and for that week, we are not going to be able to work with those employees,” he said.

This comes a few months after Nordson Corp. offered a voluntary retirement program to the 4,100 employees worldwide. Response to the Westlake-based company’s program was stronger than anticipated, with 45 percent of the people who were eligible for the program taking the retirement package.

The program coincided with Nordson’s goal to save the company $30 million by 2010. This latest furlough program is just the latest step taken to reduce costs.

“We hope we won’t have to do anything else, but as the economy continues to dip, we will have to continue to adjust production and costs to meet the needs of our customers,” Jaye said.

The furloughed employees work largely in producing, manufacturing and assembling Nordson products.

Nordson is a major manufacturer of equipment that dispenses or applies adhesives, coatings and sealants used in things like painting office equipment and bicycle frames. Adhesive applications include sealing cardboard and cereal boxes, as well as securing chips for electronic devices.

The products made at the Amherst facility mostly are used to paint consumer durable goods such as washing machines and dryers. There has been a slowdown in the purchase of those products, so the demand for Nordson products has lessened, Jaye said.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

 

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