ALUMINUM BOXES AND ALUMINUM ENCLOSURES. What sensation aluminum has become in the hardware market is no secret. The metal and its derivatives are being widely being used in not only huge companies such as automobiles and aeronautics but also in …
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California lost 66,500 jobs in June
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer – The recession continued to punish California as employers cut 66,500 jobs in June to put the state at an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent, the nation’s sixth highest.
A report issued Friday by the Employment Development Department in Sacramento also hints at how the state budget deficit will affect California, which lost 6,700 government jobs in June.
“That’s the tip of the iceberg,” said Stephen Levy with the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto.
Levy said layoffs and furloughs of state workers will worsen the state economy, which has already been hit harder than the nation as a whole by the collapse of the housing bubble.
The U.S. unemployment rate is 9.5 percent. Michigan has the nation’s highest rate of 15.2 percent.
The state’s unemployment rate in May was 11.6 percent, officials said Friday, correcting the 11.5 percent figure they had reported last month.
Friday’s report held no good news for the Bay Area’s three major metropolitan regions.
Unemployment now stands at 11.8 percent in metropolitan San Jose, which consists of Santa Clara and San Benito counties. The two counties have lost more than 15,000 manufacturing jobs in the last year.
Metropolitan San Francisco, which includes Marin and San Mateo counties, continued to have the best showing in bad times with a June unemployment rate of 9.2 percent. But the West Bay has been losing jobs in retail and professional and business services.
In metropolitan Oakland, which encompasses Alameda and Contra Costa counties, job cuts in construction contributed to a June unemployment rate of 11.1 percent.
Chris Thornberg, a California analyst with Beacon Economics, said job losses in the state seem to be slowing, but he does not expect hiring to come back strongly.
“Jobless recovery is a term you’re going to be hearing a lot,” he said.
One early indicator of a labor market turnaround is a spike in temporary employment, but that barometer seems flat, according to Rob Parker, director of the professional services group of the Spherion staffing agency.
“We’re not seeing the mass layoffs we had been, but we’re also not seeing any major pickup in hiring in California and the Bay Area,” he said.
The Employment Development Department estimates that more than 2 million Californians were unemployed in June and for some the situation is growing desperate.
Elk Grove (Sacramento County) resident Sharon Taylor said she has been out of work since she lost a call-center job in November 2007. She took classes to get retrained as a medical assistant but says there is so much competition for jobs that employers are hiring only people with experience.
“Someone told me recently just to start volunteering to get experience,” said Taylor, adding that unemployment checks have allowed her to rent a room and keep her car. But her last extension runs out at the end of August.
“When that happens, then what?” she said.
E-mail Tom Abate at tabate@sfchronicle.com.
Aluminum Auto Parts maker J.L. French files for bankruptcy
By JEWEL GOPWANI • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • July 13, 2009
In another example of how the auto industry’s sales drop-off has financially crippled auto suppliers, J.L. French Automotive Castings Inc., a maker of aluminum parts, filed for bankruptcy protection early today. It is the company’s second bankruptcy filing in three years.
Overburdened by debt, Wisconsin-based J.L. French, which counts on General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., the Chrysler Group and Magna International Inc. for most of its sales, said it already has negotiated a plan to cut its secured debt by 75% that includes another trip through Chapter 11.
High levels of debt could push at least two other major suppliers into Chapter 11 in the next few weeks.
Bankruptcy fears sent shares of Detroit-based American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. down 27 cents or 15% on Monday to close at $1.52.
Last week the company said it won a waiver on the terms of its loan agreement through the end of the month.
Shelly Lombard, an analyst at Gimme Credit, which rates corporate bonds, said in a note to investors that it will be difficult for American Axle to avoid bankruptcy.
American Axle spokesman Chris Son said today that the supplier continues to work with law firm Shearman & Sterling, but declined to say if the company is preparing a bankruptcy filing.
Meanwhile, Novi-based Cooper Standard faces a deadline of Wednesday to cut its debt after it put off making an interest payment last month.
The supplier’s discussions with lenders continue, said Cooper-Standard spokeswoman Sharon Wenzle.
J.L. French, which makes such aluminum parts as engine blocks, oil pans and transmission cases, said plummeting revenue made it impossible for the company to keep up with its debt payments.
In a court filing, J.L. French CEO Thomas Musgrave said in recent years that the company “invested significant amounts of capital to expand” its “die-casting and machining capacity in support of specific customer production contracts that in many cases failed to generate the expected level of sales volume.”
With the company in financial stress from being over-leveraged, it has had a tough time convincing customers to award it new business.
Contact JEWEL GOPWANI : 313-223-4550 or jgopwani@freepress.com
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What is an Aluminum Die Casting Company?
What is an Aluminum Die Casting Company? Aluminum today is a commonly used metal alloy in a lot of products covering numerous industries. It is used in building automobiles, it is used in consumer electronics, and it is used in housing projects and many more. There are several ways to make use of this metal alloy. Manufacturers all over the world have chosen this metal for their products because it is cheap to obtain, it is a lightweight material yet it is very strong and durable. When it comes to their aluminum needs, manufacturers commonly go to an Aluminum Die Casting Company.
An Aluminum Die Casting Company provides a service to manufacturers of manipulating aluminum metals into the desired shape and size. In other words, these companies are responsible for taking a bar of aluminum alloy and turning them into various parts such as heat sinks, lighting fixtures, brackets and automotive parts. They do this through a process known as die casting wherein the aluminum bars are subjected to intense heating until they liquefy. The liquefied aluminum will next be poured into large metal casings known as castings or molds. The liquid metal would take the form of the casting and when it is cooled, the metal will harden into its former solid state no longer a bar, but the intended shape.
The service of an Aluminum Die Casting Company is very valuable to many manufacturers as they provide high quality material at low costs. This is especially helpful for those does not have access to the needed machinery to accomplish die casting.
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures aluminum die castings creating aluminum die casting boxes, aluminum handle hardware, and aerospace die casting. If you would like to get a quote, please visit our website: Kinetic Die Casting Company
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USA Unemployment Hits 14.7 Million
Unemployment Hits 14.7 Million Another 467,000 workers became unemployed in June, sending unemployment to 14.7 million and the unemployment rate to 9.5%. Since the recession began in December 2007, 7.2 million workers have become unemployed. Over half (4.4 million) have been unemployed for over two years.
Year-over-year, there are 5.4 million fewer jobs, worse than the 2001 recession. Although that recession only lasted 8 months, it led to 29 months of job losses. This recession is 18 months old, so many more months of job losses can be expected.
There were an additional 9 million part-time workers who would have preferred full-time work, according to the Employment Report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).(Source: BLS, Employment Situation Summary)
Manufacturing, a leading indicator, continues to decline. The economy now has 1.6 million fewer manufacturing jobs than the year before, continuing a two-year decline. Manufacturing is a leading indicator because it produces the big-ticket items consumers put off buying in a recession. Once the economy starts to improve, these orders are the first to come back. In the last recession, manufacturing jobs started to improve before the overall job market.
Kinetic Die Casting Company can manufacture aluminum car parts, aluminum hardware, and Aluminum Lighting Partsaluminum lighting parts
Spartan Light Metals lay-off 170, more possible
The Spartan Light Metal Products production facility in Sparta recently conducted a series of lay-offs. Actually, an extensive series of lay-offs that started in November that have gradually picked up speed.
The current action taken by Spartan Light Metal Products has displaced approximately 170 employees at the Sparta facility. The facility is down to two shifts. Some lines have been totally shut down while others are only running during one shift. The company is reported to be hardly running any automotive parts down the lines. Many longtime workers were laid off or demoted with some given a temporary lay-off status while many are being laid off permanently. And it is whispered, this might not be the end.
A press release by Spartan, from the desk of Vice President of Human Resources Philip Zampogna states, “Although Spartan continues to be optimistic this reduction in force will be temporary, unpredictable orders and limited information concerning longer-term customer forecasts make the length of this reduction very difficult to predict in the current market environment.”
Zampogna was not available for comment.
Sparta Mayor Rob Link said, “This will affect the entire surrounding area. There are many people who work outside Sparta that this will affect, too. It is time for the community to pull together. To unite. To make sure people have heat in their house and food on their table.”
The company has sent out notifications according to the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act . The WARN notifications are a federal requirement for employers in the event of mass lay-offs and/or plant closings. The act stipulates that employers must give 60 days notice if they are going to close plants or commit mass lay-offs. That is, unless “the lay-off is caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable as of the time that notice would otherwise have been required,” according to the press release by Zampogna. The release goes on to say, “…these sudden and unforeseeable reductions in customer demand have led to this shortened notice period. This action is a reduction in force. There is no intention to close the Sparta, Il location.”
“Spartan Light Metals is a stable company,” said Mayor Link, “They have invested a lot in the Sparta facility. I feel confident the work force will be put back to work.”
The Sparta facility is not the first production facility to be reduced by Spartan. There have been work force reductions in Mexico and Hannibal, Mo as well as three other plants in: Detroit, MI, St. Louis, MO, and Tokyo, Japan. Many reasons point to the decline of the automotive industry in general.
Founded in 1961, by Henry A. Jubel the company was quick to become one of the leading metal die casting companies in the U.S. For the first year, Jubel reportedly slept at his new factory due to a small work force. Spartan remains a private, family-owned company, with Henry’s son, Donald A. Jubel currently handling the reigns. Spartan produces lightweight metal die castings fro the automotive industry. An international company, they supply to such companies as Ford, Toyota and Honda Their products include: cold chamber aluminum and magnesium, hot chamber magnesium, aluminum permanent, precious metal, iron, copper, lead, brass, bronze, ferrous/non-ferrous alloy, and stainless steel die castings. Reports are varied concerning the annual revenue Spartan can generate and ranges from $50-180 million. In 2004, Spartan received an exclusive licensing agreement from NASA for use of the MSF-398.1 aluminum/silicon alloy.
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures aluminum military parts, aluminum hardware, and aluminum die castings. Visit our website for a quote: Kinetic Die Casting Company
