A decades-old Charlotte region manufacturing plant is closing, with 265 layoffs

The closing of a nearly 40-year-old Swiss manufacturing plant in the Charlotte region includes 265 job losses.

ABB Inc. will permanently close its Kings Mountain facility that makes Baldor Reliance electric industrial motors on Aug. 5, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) filing received Monday by North Carolina Department of Commerce.

Layoffs at the manufacturing plant will begin on July 5 in a phased approach, the company’s human resource business partner, Darryl Kinlaw, said in the filing.

The Cleveland County facility has been in operation at 101 Reliance Road since the 1980s, according to the company website. It’s about 45 minutes west of Charlotte.

ABB produces similar motors at other factories, company spokesman Christopher Shigas told the Observer on Wednesday.

“The Kings Mountain business has also been heavily impacted by negative market conditions in both the oil and gas and mining industries,” Shigas said. “As a result, we have made the difficult decision to close the plant.”

The Switzerland-based company’s U.S. headquarters is in Cary. The company has about 1,600 employees at five other North Carolina facilities, including an electrification installation products in Hickory, plus three sites in South Carolina.

In addition, Shigas said ABB is building a $39.9 million electrification facility in Mebane.

ABB is a more than 130-year-old global technology company with 105,000 employees in over 100 countries, according to the company.

This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 4:28 PM.