SFI Focuses Manufacturing Efforts In Middlebury

Press Release


Specialty Filaments, inc., Announces closing of Burlington , Vermont Manufacturing Facility

BURLINGTON , VERMONT , May 13, 2005 -The Board of Directors of Specialty Filaments, Inc. ("SFI") announced today that SFI will close its Burlington , Vermont , manufacturing plant. SFI anticipates that manufacturing operations will end at the Burlington plant between July 30, 2005 , and September 30, 2005 . SFI will increase manufacturing activity at its Middlebury , Vermont location, continue to offer its full product line and expects no interruption in customer service.

The Board's decision represents a change in the scope and direction of SFI's manufacturing operations. This decision will better align SFI's fixed-cost structure with its current and anticipated future sales levels. This decision will enable SFI to be a stronger marketplace competitor and will preserve good manufacturing jobs for Vermonters.

Because of the expected increase in manufacturing activity at the Middlebury, Vermont facility, SFI expects to increase hiring at that location. Although job losses will occur in Burlington , SFI anticipates the possibility of making jobs available to displaced workers at the Middlebury location.

SFI has collective bargaining agreements with the UNITE! HERE union at both the Burlington and Middlebury plants. SFI and UNITE! HERE will bargain over the effects that SFI's decision will have on the union's members employed at the Burlington plant.

Reggie Hockenberry, an SFI spokesman, indicated that consolidation of manufacturing facilities in today's global economy is a part of the new business landscape. Foreign competition and customer just-in-time manufacturing practices require manufacturers to streamline operations and make more with less if they want to remain competitive.