Company to lay off 217 Charlotte-area workers, shutter its plant, state filing shows
A nearly century-old company that went through a merger two years ago will lay off 217 workers and shutter at least one of its two plants north of Charlotte next year, its layoff notice filed with the state of North Carolina shows.
Keystone Powdered Metal Co. makes metal components for car engines and transmissions, electric motors, power tools, HVAC systems and household appliances, according to its website.
The company is based in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, a city that also claims Straub Brewery, one of the oldest family-owned and -operated breweries in the U.S., and the first Benedictine Catholic convent in the country.
Japanese company owns local manufacturer
Keystone also has a satellite plant in the Sunbeam Industrial Complex in the Gaston County city of Cherryville. Wednesday’s layoff filing mentions job cuts only at its Iredell County plant at 250 Old Murdock Road. That’s off Interstate 77 exit 42 in Troutman.
There will be four rounds of layoffs starting with 45 employees on Nov. 1, followed by 67 workers on Dec. 1, 33 on Feb. 1 and finally 72 on April 1, Keystone human resource manager Carolyn Healy said in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice sent to the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
The plant will close on April 1, 2025, according to the filing.
Keystone did not provide reasons for the Charlotte layoffs in its filing with the state. Company officials did not respond to requests for comment by Tuesday.
The company is a division of Sumitomo Electric Industries, which is headquartered in Osaka, Japan.
In 2022, Keystone merged with another Sumitomo subsidiary, Engineered Sintered Components Co. The merged company retained the Keystone name.
The Troutman plant is Keystone’s Engineered Sintered Components Co. division, according to the Keystone website.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
This story was originally published August 31, 2024 at 10:35 AM.