11/22/2010
HEADLINES
Stanley Black & Decker to Close Bostich Plant

Stanley Black & Decker Inc. will close a Rhode Island nail and staple plant after a multi-year recession in the construction industry. Production will be moved to plants in Indiana, Poland and China.
Employees from the East Greenwich, RI About 128 employees will be laid off beginning in March 2011 and 75 relocated to a smaller facility by the time the 566,000-sq-ft Bostitch plant closes at the end of 2012.

A decade ago Bostitch employed 1,200 in East Greenwich.

“This decision was made to realign the fixed-cost structure associated with manufacturing various types of steel fasteners, to enable the Bostitch business to remain globally competitive,” communications director Tim Perra of the New Britain, Conn.-based Stanley Black & Decker said in a statement.

The company was founded in 1896 as the Boston Wire Stitcher Company. The name was changed to Bostitch Inc. in 1948, Textron acquired Bostitch in 1966 and sold it to Stanley Works in 1986 for $193 million. Stanley merged with Black & Decker earlier this year to form Stanley Black & Decker.

Bostitch added 200 employees between 2003 and 2005, when it received a $308,000 tax break from the state economic development agency and had begun a $7.9 million renovation of the East Greenwich plant.  ©2010 GlobalFastenerNews.com

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