Danfoss to close Chambersburg plant; 70 jobs affected
CHAMBERSBURG – Danfoss announced plans on Tuesday to close its Chambersburg plant at 1500 Nitterhouse Drive.
About 70 employees will be affected by the closing, which is planned for December 2018, the company said in a news release.
The plant makes variable frequency drives to control electric motors in climate-control and industrial applications.
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Employees had already been notified of the plant closing by the time Danfoss told L. Michael Ross, president of the Franklin County Area Development Corp.
“Obviously, we’re very disappointed with the decision,” Ross said. “There was nothing we could do to change that.”
FCADC and Chambersburg Area Development Corp. together own the building on Nitterhouse Drive. The Danfoss lease expires at the end of 2019.
The company said its decision to close the plant is based on its need to achieve economies of scale in production, to optimize its footprint in North America and to better serve customers.
Production will be consolidated with the company’s existing factories in Loves Park, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin — both of which have the additional capacity necessary to support the current production volume of the Chambersburg site.
“To use the mafia vernacular: It’s a nothing personal, just business,” Ross said. “We have benefited with companies making similar decisions to move people here to Franklin County. This is a situation where it will work against us.”
Ross said he wants to make sure Danfoss employees who remain in Franklin County have a chance to meet with South Central Pa. Works and Careerlink for opportunities to redeploy to other jobs or to get job training.
“We are working with our employees to provide the best possible outplacement support. Including trying to accommodate those who are willing to relocate to Wisconsin or Illinois,” said Rick Pena, Danfoss Drives’ senior director of operations.
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The release quoted Pena as saying, “The decision is in no way a reflection of the efforts and commitment of our valued Chambersburg workforce. Quite the contrary, our Chambersburg-based employees have demonstrated a tremendous work ethic and high performance. Instead, the decision is based on the fact that the Loves Park and Milwaukee sites have the capacity to produce the demand for all of North America, to create a strong foundation for growth, and to further improve customer support.”
Denmark-based Danfoss acquired the Chambersburg site in 2014 as part its merger with Finland-based Vacon.
“We were a major production facility for Vacon,” Ross said. “Danfoss has a much broader presence here” in the U.S.
Danfoss has 18 sites in North America.
Vacon had acquired the Ultracon drive business from Chambersburg-based TB Woods and opened the state-of-the-art manufacturing center on Nitterhouse Drive in 2009.
The LEED-certified building is suited for some high-technology operations. It has electrostatic floors, high-capacity electrical conduit and clean rooms for electronics, according to Ross. Exceptionally well-maintained, the plant is “arguably the nicest manufacturing facility in the region.”
Jim Hook, 717-262-4759