Westmoreland Sony Plant to Close

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has confirmed that the Sony plant in Westmorland County will be among those closed in the coming months. The plant’s 650 employees make flat panel televisions. Demand for those products has been weak in the faltering economy and the technology has started to move away from the type of screen made at the Mount Pleasant facility. Sony says it is trimming about 4% of its worldwide workforce. The governor says the closing is not immediate and workers will be eligible for state subsidized job training. Sony is expected to shutter the facility over then next 15 months. The company shifted about 800 jobs from the Mount Pleasant plant to a facility in Mexico last year and closed a glass making facility and warehouse in Hempfield in 2006. That move killed about 350 local jobs. Rendell says he already has two companies that may be interested in the Sony campus. One is said to be a renewable energy company.