Carter Fuel to lay off more than 100 workers in Logansport

The massive layoff affects 111 workers, a Carter Fuel press release indicated — 30 percent of the 370 at the plant.

Union president Dan Arnett said the facility's corporate owner, Crowne Group, had decided to ship older-model fuel pumps from overseas facilities rather than having those models made in Logansport.

"The market is to the point where our corporate leadership thinks they can buy pumps from China or somewhere and sell them cheaper than getting our people to produce them," Arnett said.

"It's another case of China taking our jobs away, I guess."

Leaders at the manufacturing facility, which makes after-market fuel pumps, notified employees this week of the layoff. Cuts won't be in effect until late November.

Workers received the advance notice in accordance with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The law mandates 60 days' advance notice for when a facility lays off at least 33 percent of its workforce and provides means for displaced workers to obtain job training.

Arnett, president since February of United Steelworkers Local 4863, said Carter Fuel employees had "been on edge" since Crowne Group bought the facility about two years ago from Federal Mogul.

"I think everybody had that feeling, that something would happen," Arnett said. "We didn't know what it would be."

Federal Mogul announced in October 2013 it had sold the plant at 101 E. Industrial Blvd., in the city's industrial park. At the time, the plant employed 380 people and had generated $80 million in sales in the months leading up to the sale.

Crowne Automotive Aftermarket Group Chief Operating Officer Martin Kennedy said executives had been watching Carter Fuel's profitability for the last six months to a year.

"There's some low-margin product that we're going to resource, but for me the key is we're able to save a large number of jobs in Logansport," Kennedy said by phone Thursday.

The company has invested about $2 million over the last year to put in new assembly lines for new fuel pumps to be made in Logansport, he added.

Crowne Group's president, Gregory Flake, told a trade publication in March 2014 that Carter Fuel was "in a very strong competitive position as a standalone enterprise." He also praised the Logansport facility's manufacturing and quality management processes as "second to none."

Speaking to aftermarketNews, Flake credited Carter Fuel's reliance on U.S.-based engineering and production for its customers' loyalty.

"...The fact is our quality achievements of the past several years have far surpassed those of suppliers that are relying more and more on outsourced products from offshore manufacturers," Flake had said.

He also told AMN that Crowne Group's research had shown shop owners and technicians "overwhelmingly" pick fuel pumps designed and manufactured in North America over ones made overseas.

Flake was formerly a general manager at Federal Mogul, AMN reported.

Kennedy affirmed Carter Fuel's competitiveness Thursday.

"Although you may have something sourced from a second-tier supplier, Carter still retains all the design responsibility, the quality responsibility," Kennedy said. "... We are still the leader in the industry."

Carter Fuel Systems' general manager, Alston German, said in a press release the decision to phase out the manufacture of older fuel pumps was difficult but necessary "due to shifts in market demand."

Kennedy said no further layoffs are anticipated, "not at all."

Carter Fuel's press release indicated the Logansport plant will still ship to more than 550 original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket customers across North America.

The company also runs an assembly, packaging and distribution plant in Brownsville, Texas.

Arnett, who has worked at the Logansport facility for the last 23 years, said the plant would still manufacture newer-model fuel pumps, but he believed foreign manufacturing facilities would eventually catch up, making newer fuel pump versions as well.

He commended local plant leaders for their efforts to mitigate the effects of the layoffs. Since less than a third of employees were affected, he explained, the company was not legally required to give the 60 days' notice it provided.

"I appreciate them doing that. It's kind of making the best of a bad situation," Arnett said. "It's much better than just showing the people the door."

He anticipated several of the employees that will be affected by the layoff will take advantage of job training opportunities afford by the WARN Act.

"I think a lot of the people that will be affected have kind of been through this before, because they're newer people at our facility, but they've been through this at other facilities," Arnett said. "Unfortunately it's just kind of a sign of the times anymore."