Irrigation manufacturer to move an operation but keep ‘presence’ here
By Dan Sorenson
ARIZONA DAILY STAR 3/16/2010
Irrigation manufacturer Rain Bird Corp. expects to lay off 108 Tucson workers in April, and it will close its plastic-molding operation here early next year.
The unit’s work will be carried on at the company’s other facilities in California, Mexico and Europe, said Dave Johnson, Rain Bird’s director of corporate marketing.
“We thought it would be a better use of resources to move it to other facilities,” Johnson said Monday about the Tucson plant shutdown.
Johnson would not specify how many employees Rain Bird now has in Tucson, but he said it was safe to say the molding operation made up a significant part of the local work force.
He said Rain Bird is a privately held company and doesn’t provide many details of its operations because of competitive concerns.
Rain Bird makes components for commercial and residential irrigation systems that are sold worldwide.
Rain Bird’s Tucson complex — at 6991 E. Southpoint Road, near East Valencia and South Kolb roads — includes a “complex assembly operation for control systems, large-scale irrigation control systems, and a lot of professional offices,” Johnson said.
“Rain Bird still has a significant presence and intends to maintain a significant presence in Tucson,” he said.
Johnson said the company told the affected workers in February that they would be laid off in April.
He said the company probably would offer a transfer to other locations for some, but he did not have the details of the job offers or severance packages being offered to employees.
Rain Bird opened its Tucson plasticmolding operation in 1997. Its first Tucson facility opened in 1985, and in 1992 its commercial division was moved here.
Contact reporter Dan Sorenson at 573-4185 or dsorenson@azstarnet.com
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