Executives of Anchor Hocking Co. said there was nothing politicians or economic-development officials could have done to prevent the 250 job losses scheduled for April 2005 at its Monaca, PA plant."We really didn't see anything that could have been done," Anchor Hocking President Mark Eichhorn told a gathering of government/development officials on 28 Jan/05, when asked why the company had not approached them for assistance before announcing the layoffs 2 weeks previously. "This decision was driven by a combination of factors, but simply, we have more capacity than we need, & the market was not there," Eichhorn said. Eichhorn & Dan Taylor, Anchor Hocking's director of manufacturing, also cited slow industry growth, foreign competition & rising costs for health insurance, shipping & energy, as reasons for the layoffs. The plant made glass for lighting fixtures. The layoffs will halve the workforce at the Monaca plant to 250 employees.
