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Mar-28-2009Wal-Mart Closing Vision Lab; 650 Workers To Lose Their Jobs(topic overview)
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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Friday that it would be closing an Ohio optical lab which employs about 650 workers. The lab, located near Columbus, currently processes eyewear orders for the vision centers operating in its U.S. Walmart stores. "This decision along with expansions and improvements to our other eyewear manufacturing facilities will allow Walmart to reduce costs and operate our optical business more efficiently." Those workers affected by the plant's closure will receive regular paychecks and benefits for the next 60 days, and are eligible for positions at nearby Walmart and Sam's Club stores. [1] NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is closing an optical lab in Ohio that employs roughly 650 workers, the world's biggest retailer said on Friday. The discount retailer said the lab currently processes eyewear orders for the vision centers that it operates in its U.S. Walmart stores. "This decision along with expansions and improvements to our other eyewear manufacturing facilities will allow Walmart to reduce costs and operate our optical business more efficiently," Volker Heimeshoff, divisional manager of health and wellness for Walmart U.S., said in a statement.[2]
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) continues selectively pruning staff, this time by laying off 650 employees as it shutters an Ohio facility that processes eyewear orders for Wal-Mart's in-store vision centers. Wal-Mart, which sees its Vision Centers as a growing part of its business, will shift the work to other optical labs it operates in Arkansas, Texas and Indiana,.[3]
The world's largest retailer said in a statement that eyewear orders previously sent to the facility in Lockbourne, Ohio, will be dispersed to labs in Crawfordsville, Ind., Fayetteville, Ark., and Dallas. Wal-Mart also has contracts with Essilor of America and Carl Zeiss Vision, which both operate optical labs in the U.S. and Mexico.[4] Wal-Mart delivered good news to two of its optical labs Friday, but it comes at the expense of the retailer's Lockbourne operation, which will be shuttered, laying off 650 employees. Bentonville, Ark. -based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced the closing of the Lockbourne lab, 2525 Rohr Road in Columbus, as it plans to add jobs at its Crawfordsville, Ind. and Fayetteville, Ark. facilities.[5] Submitted by The City Wire staff on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 4:51pm. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. officials said Friday they will close an optical lab in Ohio and move some of the jobs to Fayetteville and Crawfordsville, Ind.[6]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Friday that it will shutter an optical lab in Ohio, cutting 650 jobs, as it looks to cut costs by fold its operations into facilities in Indiana and Arkansas.[4] The retailer also said that orders sent to the Ohio lab will be dispersed to other facilities. Wal-Mart said it was expanding its optical labs in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and adding approximately 100 new jobs.[2] Wal-Mart operates optical labs in Crawfordsville, Indiana, Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Dallas, Texas. The company said it is enlarging its Indiana and Arkansas facilities and expects to provide employment to about 100 people.[7]
Walmart's optical labs in Crawfordsville, Ind. and Fayetteville, Ark. are expanding and will add 100 new jobs. It's bad news for Ohio as more of our state's workers are finding themselves without a job.[1] The retailer said Friday that work from the facility near Columbus will be done at optical labs in Crawfordsville, Ind., Fayetteville, Ark., and Dallas.[8] The world'''s largest retailer said work from the eyewear-processing facility near Columbus would be performed in optical labs in Crawfordsville, about an hour west of Indianapolis, as well as in Fayetteville, Ark., and Dallas.[9]
The world's largest retailer operates optical labs in Crawfordsville, Dallas and Fayetteville. It also outsources work to companies who have labs in Mexico and other U.S. locations.[6]
Wal-Mart did not disclose how many new jobs created at each site. "This decision along with expansions and improvements to our other eyewear manufacturing facilities will allow Walmart to reduce costs and operate our optical business more efficiently," Volker Heimeshoff, divisional manager of health and wellness for Walmart U.S., noted in the statement. [6] LOCKBOURNE, Ohio (AP) — Wal-Mart says it is closing a central Ohio optical lab to reduce costs, eliminating 650 jobs.[8] Wal-Mart Inc. announced today that it is closing a central-Ohio optical lab to reduce costs, eliminating 650 jobs.[9]
The laid-off employees will receive pay and benefits for the next 60 days and be eligible for jobs at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the area. [5] Wal-Mart said employees affected by the layoff would be offered regular paychecks and benefits for the next 60 days and would be eligible for positions at area Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. Wal-Mart spokesperson Volker Heimeshoff said, "While this is the right decision for our business, it is a difficult one."[7] Wal-Mart said the employees who are being laid off will receive regular paychecks and benefits for the next 60 days and will be eligible for positions at area Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations.[4] Wal-Mart said workers affected by the plant closure would receive regular paychecks and benefits for the next 60 days and were eligible for positions at nearby Walmart and Sam's Club stores.[2] The company would pay the workers for the next 60 days and the workers would be eligible for positions at area Walmart and Sam's Club stores.[10]
Affected workers in Ohio will receive paychecks and benefits for the next two months and be eligible for jobs at other Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations, the company said.[9]
Employees clutching layoff information packages consoled one another outside the facility today, some hugging and weeping. George Wheeler, a seven-year employee who lives in Bexley said the company had addressed rumors about the future of their positions a couple of months ago, saying the facility wasn't going to close and jobs weren't going to be cut. "It's a shock," he said. "They just hired people six weeks ago, and we got raises last month." "While this is the right decision for our business, it is a difficult one," he said. "We know that we must focus on taking care of our Lockbourne associates and assisting them as they seek employment at other Walmart and Sam's Club facilities or with other employers."[11]
The announcement by Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart marks the largest layoff by the company in central Ohio, amid the current economic downturn. The retailer said the facility located at 2525 Rohr Road currently processes eyewear orders for vision centers that operate in its U.S. Wal-Mart stores.[7] The lab, at 2525 Rohr Rd., processes eyewear orders for Vision Centers in Walmart stores.[11]
The lab has a Groveport address though it is located in the village of Lockbourne near Rickenbacker Airport. "Obviously, this is a terrible blow to that community," said Brian Harter, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. He encouraged Walmart workers to contact his agency about unemployment benefits, at 1-877-OHIO-JOB. Dispatch reporter Dan Gearino contributed to this story. [11] Walmart is closing its optical lab on the South Side today and will lay off 650 workers, which will be central Ohio's largest mass layoff of the current economic downturn.[11]
Equipment from Lockbourne will be sent to the company's three other optical labs, including one in Dallas.[5]
Wal-Mart has 4,100 pharmacies in the U.S., located in 3,600 stores, supercenters and supermarkets, and in 500 Sam's Clubs. 'Every big company is interested, because they are all trying to figure out how to contain health care costs,' Walgreen's Miquelon said. Caterpillar views Wal-Mart as a pharmacy that negotiates lower prices for medicines with suppliers in the same way it buys other goods for its stores, Bisping said. 'What Wal-Mart is trying to do is sell prescription drugs like they sell bananas,' Bisping said. [12] Under the partnership, Caterpillar bypasses a third-party provider and gets pricing on drugs directly from the retailer. Caterpillar then passes some of those savings on to employees by waiving a $5 co-payment on generic drugs bought at Wal-Mart. 'We know from our test that it will drive volume through our stores, which is our goal behind this,' said Michael Struhs, Wal-Mart's director of health and wellness business development. The program would target roughly 75 million Americans whose employers fund their own health-insurance plans, said Struhs, 46. The Bentonville, Ark. -based retailer is pursuing the strategy after demand for its $4 medicines helped spur growth of its U.S. comparable-stores sales by 3.3 percent in 2008.[12] Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, is using its heft to offer lower-cost prescription drugs and stepping up competition with pharmacies at CVS Caremark Corp. and Walgreen Co. Wal-Mart plans to expand a program with Caterpillar Inc. to other U.S. companies, executives said in interviews this month.[12]
A Wal-Mart statement said the employs would receive pay and benefits for the next 60 days, with eligible employees receiving severance pay. [6] Bentonville, Ark. -based Wal-Mart said the Indiana and Arkansas facilities will add a total of approximately 100 jobs.[4] The Indiana and Arkansas labs will expand, Wal-Mart said, creating about 100 jobs in total.[9]
Wal-Mart says it will continue to operate an optical merchandise distribution center at the Columbus-area location, which is in the village of Lockbourne. [8] The company said today that it will continue to operate an optical merchandise distribution center at the same location.[11]
SOURCES
1. Wal-Mart Closing Ohio Optical Lab Employing 650 People | Cleveland Leader
2. Wal-Mart closing optical lab, 650 jobs affected | U.S. | Reuters
3. Article - WSJ.com
4. Wal-Mart shuts down lab in Ohio - BusinessWeek
5. Wal-Mart axes 650 Columbus jobs - Business First of Columbus:
6. Wal-Mart to move optical lab jobs to Fayetteville | The City Wire
7. RTTNews - Latest Earnings,Upcoming Earnings, Pos Pre Announcements, Pos Pre Announcements , Positive Surprises, Negative Surprises, Hot Stocks, Stock Split Calendar, Stock Buybacks, Dividends, Negative, Positive PreAnnouncements,Surprises .
8. The Associated Press: Wal-Mart to close Ohio optical lab; 650 jobs cut
9. ibj.com Indianapolis Business Journal Wal-Mart shifts optical jobs from Ohio to Indiana
10. RTTNews - Latest Earnings,Upcoming Earnings, Pos Pre Announcements, Pos Pre Announcements , Positive Surprises, Negative Surprises, Hot Stocks, Stock Split Calendar, Stock Buybacks, Dividends, Negative, Positive PreAnnouncements,Surprises .
11. The Columbus Dispatch : 650 jobs lost as Wal-Mart shuts Lockbourne facility
12. Wal-Mart rolls out drug sales expansion - Daily Report
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