Riverview facility in Tennessee is being ‘mothballed,’ with 300 jobs either lost or moving within the state
Brunswick Corp. announced Jan. 6 plans to “mothball” its Riverview boatbuilding facility near Knoxville, Tenn., which manufactures Sea Ray boats. Production will wind down during the first quarter.
Approximately 300 production and support positions will be lost in Riverview, but Brunswick says it will work to transfer as many people as possible to the Knoxville and Vonore, Tenn., plants.
Production at Riverview will be moved to the plants in Knoxville and Vonore. In addition, production of some models will be transferred to the company’s Palm Coast facility in Florida and another plant in Mexico.
In addition, Brunswick announced plans to reduce as many as 275 additional positions throughout Sea Ray manufacturing and product development facilities, as well as at Sea Ray’s Knoxville headquarters, by mid-January.
All Sea Ray manufacturing facilities in Tennessee and Florida have scheduled at least a week of production furloughs each month through the end of June. These will generally be observed the third week of the month.
“We have taken a number of actions over the past few years in an effort to mitigate persistent difficult conditions in the global marine market and economy,” Brunswick chairman and CEO Dustan McCoy said in a statement. “But the global marine market remains in a severe downturn because of the weakening economies here and abroad and anxious consumer sentiment.”
In addition to Riverview, Brunswick has closed, mothballed or sold 14 other North American plants since 2006.
This article originally appeared in the February 2009 issue.
