Pressboard products maker Masonite to close plant, lay off 172

Hampton Roads Daily Press ^ | January 27, 2004 | The Associated Press

[Willie Green]

DANVILLE, Va. -- Masonite Corp. plans to close its Danville, Va. pressboard manufacturing plant on March 26, leaving 172 employees without jobs. The company blamed the decision, announced Tuesday, on a steep drop in demand for its products.

The products made in Danville include pegboards and the wood product on clipboards. Duron and Presswood products also are used in furniture and store fixtures.

Phil Kohner, Masonite vice president of human resources, blamed the reduced demand on Brazilian competition and substitute products.

[HalfIrish]

Hey, Willie, how are ya?

Isn't it funny that now that guys who wear white collars are being affected (outsourcing) that suddenly the GOP Senate is moving to action? You can bet your arse it won't cover the little guy, though.

[Condor51]

''blamed the reduced demand on Brazilian competition...''

BULL-feathers!! It's the SHYSTERS like John Edwards.

A few months back when I was doing flooring work at home I needed some underlayment. I went to the Masonite website looking to see if they still made pressboard¹ and found that most of their products aren't even sold on the USA anymore due to frickin' lawsuits.

Anyway, not finding 'pressboard' on their site, I went to my Home Depot® and asked the sales guy, ''Do you have any masonite''. He looked at me like I was speaking Latvian. Turns out they had tons of 'pressboard' but none manufactured bu the Masonite Co.

God do I detest lawyers!!!!

1; years ago ONLY Masonite made pressboard and it was generically called 'masonite', like Xerox became generic for 'copy'.

[Armedanddangerous]

I have friends in Danville Virginia, and I can tell you one thing. Shutting this plant won't help that town. It isn't a terribly wealthy town on the best of days, and relies on the blue collar dollar. Lots of crime there too.

[Ciexyz]

My sympathies to the workers losing their jobs.

[Condor51]

This is the hypocrisy of the RATS. They say they'll ''fight for the little guy'', yet do everything in their power to put those people OUT of work; lawsuits, govt regs, taxes - MORE lawsuits, more regs, etc, etc.

MAGGOTS!

[Willie Green]

You can bet your arse it won't cover the little guy, though.

Hi there, HalfIrish!
Long time no see...
It's good to see that you're still around!!!

Yeah, looks like the Senate is trying to cobble together an ineffective election-year pacifier...
"banning" foreign outsourcing of government subcontractors...
I suppose it might have some marginal impact...
But it's still woefully inadequate to stop the economic warfare that's being waged against the American Middle Class.

[Willie Green]

BULL-feathers!! It's the SHYSTERS like John Edwards.

You mean those morons in the Senate?
Yeah, they're certainly part of the problem as well.
It's time to toss-out ALL the bums.

As far as there being "reduced demand" due to Brazilian competition, I think the media is guilty of oversimplification. Brazilian imports don't "reduce demand", but they WOULD capture market share away from domestic suppliers like Masonite.

The article really doesn't address the issue of "reduced demand", which would be a shinking domestic market for these goods, regardless of whether supplied by Brazil or Masonite. THAT is happening as well, as the domestic furniture industry (a large % of Masonite's customers) is also being attacked by foreign imports. The import problem extends far beyond just Brazil.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I went to my Home Depot® and asked the sales guy, ''Do you have any masonite''. He looked at me like I was speaking Latvian.***

Same thing happened to me at our local lumber yard last year. They blamed it on lawsuits.

When I finally did find some they charged an arm and a leg for it. I bought 4 sheets just to have some for use at home.

[Armedanddangerous]

Absolutely, and these people don't have to pick up the car payments and the grocery bills and the electric company bills of those people thrown out of work.

And the thing is, they don't give a damn. The ends justify the means.

In the meantime, the community goes to hell in a handbasket, and the crime problem gets worse. Let me give you an example.

Danville is a small town, with about 25,000 residents. They have a serious drug problem, and several rolling crack houses.

I went to visit a friend who is a knifemaker there. He met me as I got out of the car in front of his house, and he told me to make sure I locked my door and brought my gun, since I would be coming back out after dark.

I told him it was locked in the trunk as I wasn't sure if my CCW was good in VA, (it was, btw), and He said, "well, I suggest you get it out."