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Cannondale to cut PA workforce

by VeloNews.com

• April 02, 2009
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As part of a company-wide restructuring in North America, Europe and Asia, Dorel Industries will reduce its workforce at its Cannondale bicycle factory in Pennsylvania by two-thirds this year.

Dorel owns the Cannondale, GT, Sugoi, Pacific, Schwinn and Mongoose brands.

In a press release Thursday, the company announced it would establish five “Centers of Excellence” this year. The company will make its Bethel, Connecticut, location its global headquarters for high-end enthusiast bicycles. Its facility in Basel, Switzerland, will focus on enthusiast bicycles for the European market. Its Madison, Wisconsin, facility will focus on global mass market products; its Vancouver, British Columbia, facility will work on active lifestyle and urban clothing and shoes. And its Taichung, Taiwan, facility will coordinate sourcing, testing and quality of Asian suppliers.

The company will refocus its Bedford factory on final bicycle and Headshok assembly, CNC machining, testing and quality control, bicycle warranty repair, inside sales and customer support, including a new call center.

Bicycle frame manufacturing will be shifted to Taichung over the course of this year, allowing the reduction of Bedford workforce from 300 workers to 100.

The changes will cost the company “no more than $4.5 million” this year, but the company expects the changes to save up to $4 million a year.

Dorel, a $2 billion company with 4,700 employees, trades on the Toronto stock exchange under the symbols DII.A and DII.B.