Bosch to shut down brake plant in Sumter

Bosch managers gathered workers at the brake plant starting about 1 p.m. to tell them they would close the entire 820-employee plant by the end of 2006.

The German automotive parts maker announced Jan. 24 it would close half the plant by mid-2005, laying off 400 workers making drum brakes and taking the work to Mexico.

The remaining 420 workers, who make vacuum boosters using more advanced technology, thought their jobs were more secure. Some in the vacuum booster plant were so angered by the news that managers sent shop workers home about 6 p.m., employees said.

A company spokeswoman could not confirm the action. Terry Moore, 42, of Rembert, has driven a forklift at the plant for 17 years. He said he has no idea what he will do next.

“Morale is pretty down,” Moore said.

Martin Hilton, 34, said employees in the drum brake plant continued

working, but “you could feel the tension.”

“People need jobs,” Hilton said.

“Going to Mexico and paying people $2 an hour just ain’t right.”

Gov. Mark Sanford has singled out the automotive industry as a major source of higher-paying jobs he said his administration would foster to increase the wealth of South Carolinians.

“Not every story is going to be a win,” Sanford said in a statement released after Bosch’s announcement. “But this administration is going to continue to aggressively push for income tax relief and other economic development reforms.”

Sanford cited successes elsewhere, including General Electric’s announcement Thursday that it will shift at least 180 jobs to Greenville this year. The governor also singled out Siemens’ Feb. 18 announcement that it will create a 120-employee diesel fuel injector research facility at the Carolina Research Park outside Columbia.

Wolfgang Kramer, a Siemens official who negotiated with state and local officials for the research center, said the German company was swayed by lower upfront costs and by incentives, such as Richland County’s agreement to spend $3.5 million to build a test facility. The state’s personal income tax rate played no role, he said.

Workers at Bosch’s Sumter plant earn about $13 to $14 per hour. Companies spend $33.60 per hour, including benefits, to employ a U.S. factory worker; they can get an hour’s work for $3.20 in Mexico, including benefits, and $1.30 in China, according to a study by Roland Berger. The German consulting firm predicts a fifth of the U.S. parts industry could move to low-wage nations by the end of the decade.

Becky MacDonald, a Bosch spokeswoman in Detroit, said company officials quickly realized they needed a lower-cost location to make drum brakes, an old device that has been largely replaced by disc brakes.

“(The realization) took longer with vacuum boosters, but it’s a very similar situation.

“It’s purely market forces,” MacDonald said.

“We’re not competing within the United States like we have in the past. A vehicle manufacturer can buy products anywhere in the world and have it shipped to his manufacturing location. They are pushing for global pricing,” she said.

Similar pressures have led other automotive suppliers to move to Mexico, and many more are expected to set up shop in China as automakers open assembly lines and ramp up production there.

Federal-Mogul closed its 250-employee piston plant in Orangeburg in July, moving those jobs to Mexico, and plans to close its 260-employee piston plant in Sumter by October, moving that work to Malden, Mo.

Bosch will begin laying off workers in Sumter later this summer and continue until drum brake production shuts down in mid-2005 and the last vacuum booster leaves the plant by the end of 2006.

“Yeah. Not a good day for Sumter,” sighed Steve Rust, president of the Sumter County Development Board.

“This kind of thing, where companies are moving to Mexico because they can operate more economically, is unfortunately a fact of life,” he said.

Rust is already working on other job prospects. He got County Council’s agreement last week on incentives to attract a medical supplies manufacturer that expects to invest $107 million and create 185 jobs over five years. Sumter is competing with Singapore, Ireland and Utah.

“We think we’re well positioned to replace the jobs we’re losing, and we have until 2006 on this one.”

Reach DuPlessis (803) 771-8305 or jduplessis@thestate.com. Reach L’Heureux at (803) 771-8463 or dlheureux@thestate.com.