Light bulb factory closes; End of era for U.S. means more jobs overseas

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Light bulb factory closes; End of era for U.S. means more jobs overseas

Lights out for ordinary bulbs made in the US

By Peter Whoriskey
Wednesday, September 8, 2010; 3:06 AM

WINCHESTER, VA. - The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison's innovations in the 1870s.

The remaining 200 workers at the plant here will lose their jobs.

"Now what're we going to do?" said Toby Savolainen, 49, who like many others worked for decades at the factory, making bulbs now deemed wasteful.

During the recession, political and business leaders have held out the promise that American advances, particularly in green technology, might stem the decades-long decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs. But as the lighting industry shows, even when the government pushes companies toward environmental innovations and Americans come up with them, the manufacture of the next generation technology can still end up overseas.

What made the plant here vulnerable is, in part, a 2007 energy conservation measure passed by Congress that set standards essentially banning ordinary incandescents by 2014. The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs.

[AndyA]

1. We MUST stop the outsourcing of jobs.

NAFTA, etc. must be repealed as it VERY OBVIOUSLY is not good for American jobs!

No incentives to American companies to go overseas. In fact, add an "inspection fee" or "quality check" or something to all imported items, to make sure they aren't unsafe, poisonous, etc.

Tax cuts for companies to create jobs here in America ONLY.

This is beyond ridiculous, we're hemorrhaging jobs and Congress is doing nothing about it. No tourniquet, no bandage, just watching the blood flow out. And they wonder why we have high unemployment? Figure it out guys, or we'll get some new ones who actually have a clue.

[Owl]

5. Well said. And why isn't this GE plant adapting to making CFL's or LED lamps instead?

Not that I'm particularly impressed with CFL's; application sensitive and not all that reliable.

CFL disposal (even done properly due to the mercury content) is going to eventually be a huge waste problem.

[pampango]

8. GE says CFL's made there would cost 50% more, but the Chinese guy wanting to build a US factory

says making CFL's in the US would only add 10% to the cost.

"The company developed a plan to see what it would take to retrofit a plant that makes traditional incandescents into one that makes CFLs. Even with a $40 million investment and automation, the disparity in wages and other factors made it uneconomical. The new plant's CFLs would have cost about 50 percent more than those from China, GE officials said."

"The business prospered and Yan's factories in China employed as many as 14,000 - not so far off from the 40,000 glass blowers that Hammer had once imagined would be necessary. With new automation techniques, Yan is seeking to cut the number of his employees in China, where wages are rising, to 5,000 by year's end.

Today, about a quarter of the lights sold in the United States are CFLs, according to NEMA, an industry association. Of those, Yan says, he manufactures more than half.

Someday soon, Yan says, he hopes to build a U.S. factory, though he so far has been unable to secure $12.5 million in government funding for the project.

Manufacturing in the United States would add 10 percent or more to the cost of building a standard CFL, he said, but retailers have indicated that there is a demand for products manufactured domestically."

While GE is apparently not closing this plant and opening one overseas (it's just getting out of the business), why can't it run a US-based CFL factory as well as Mr. Yan seems to think he can.

[Winterblues]

9. NAFTA, etc. must be repealed as it VERY OBVIOUSLY is not good for American jobs!

Clinton signed NAFTA into Law in 1993 and then went on to add 22 million new jobs. NAFTA did not seem to be any problem until Republicans started their tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, Almost no jobs were added under the Bush* Cabal..

[pampango]

10. Good point. European countries have plenty of free trade with neighbors and do well.

The big difference is that they provide an effective social safety net, effective health care, progressive taxation (not tax cuts for the rich) and strong unions.

It would seem that free trade is not what separates successful first world societies from unsuccessful ones, but all the progressive government policies which are a part of life in the social democracies of Europe.

[AndyA]

11. A lot of Clinton's jobs were Internet-related, weren't they?

Didn't manufacturing suffer under NAFTA? I haven't checked recently, but I remember at the time we were losing lots of manufacturing jobs. We need to make things HERE again, and I don't see how NAFTA will make that possible, all things considered, it is not an equal playing field.

[OhioChick]

22. Hit the nail on the head with this comment:

"This is beyond ridiculous, we're hemorrhaging jobs and Congress is doing nothing about it. No tourniquet, no bandage, just watching the blood flow out. And they wonder why we have high unemployment? Figure it out guys, or we'll get some new ones who actually have a clue."

:thumbsup:

I agree wholeheartedly.

[CBGLuthier]

2. Crying over obsolescence after 140 years?

I am sure the buggy whip makers feel for them.

[Billy Burnett]

7. When oil is gone, buggy whips will make a comeback.

[Subdivisions]

24. Yep. n/t

[xchrom]

3. and they could never have taken any of their profits to update the plant? nt

[Evasporque]

4. I have and IDEA!

Maybe we should feel sad that this uniquely America symbol of innovation should be celebrated
and mourned for it's domestic manufacturing loss. Yes it is old tech...but it is part of our heritage.

The incandescent light bulb changed the world.

It is another example of corporatist mentality of short term profit over long term growth and innovation.

rather than change the bulb to fit demand and requirements we gave it away and let others do that and played the "last buggy whip maker" game. In the end we are left with empty buildings and people without work.

We stopped innovating in so many types of products because "It was too expensive and detracted from the bottom line of the quarterly report."

[Warpy]

6. I mostly switched over when I moved into this dump in 1996

Unfortunately, I have several fixtures that just won't fit a CFL and LED bulbs haven't been developed well enough to be useful for anything but flashlights and headlamps.

I imagine other people are stuck in transition, too.

Chances are the plant is closing simply because people in Asia can be paid lower wages in cheaper currencies so upper management can look good to the board of directors and their bonuses will be bigger.

This sucks for all the skilled people who worked at that plant. It also sucks for everybody who has to buy overseas products with poor quality control.

[area51]

14. +1

I have lamps that can't use a CFL bulb.

[Warpy]

16. I find myself stumbling around in the dark before I switch them on

so every single one of them was put in back in 1996.

Now that's bulb life!

[TheKentuckian]

27. I use LED bulbs right now. They use 2 watts a piece and screw right in

the exact same lamps that I once had CFLs in and standard bulbs before that.

It took me a few days to get accustomed to the bluish tint of the light but now I prefer it at night. I don't get the desire anymore to emulate the sun 24 hours a day. The LEDs are more like star and moonlight and plenty bright enough to read.

If one 2 watt (50 watt equilievent) is bright enough for you then fire up another one or even two guilt free because even three of them is a little under half of a single CFL and just a tiny fraction of a standard 60 watt bulb.

If folks cannot make these tiny adjustments to cut power consumption then it has to be assumed they don't give a crap about conservation.

If people would just switch to LEDs even if they have to do 2 to 1 then we could shut down some of these coal fired plants.

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs.

Sounds like a great time to re-tool the factory to produce compact flouresents, to take advantage of an exploding consumer market. But no, we'll give them a tax break to open a new factory overseas, but not give them one to retool here.

[JCMach1]

13. China beat us to it...

They already have the huge and cheap capacity available to supply the world...

[TwilightGardener]

15. I bought light fixtures at Lowes last week that only take CFL's--the government

has decided that new fixtures shouldn't be compatible at all with incandescents in the future, so now they're going to a GU24 base or pin base (read that somewhere)--no more screwing in either type of your choosing. I frankly think it sucks.

[kentuck]

17. Didn't GE just get a huge subsidy from the government?

In other words, from us?

[crazylikafox]

18. yes. They're an essentially financial company now & they got a bailout along with the other banks

[starroute]

19. I'm really uneasy about this whole CFL thing

From what I've read, you can't use CFL's inside recessed fixtures or globes. You can't use them in fixtures where they'd point downward. You can't use the ordinary ones with dimmer switches. And if they're in a location where they're turned on and off dozens of times a day, they'll blow out as quickly as incandescents.

Put that all together, and I don't have a single fixture in my house that can take CFL's. And if they make the bases incompatible with older fixtures, that's another kick in the teeth. Does the government expect me to spend thousands of dollars rewiring my house to be CFL-compatible? Or am I going to end up buying Chinese-made incandescents on the black market?

[TwilightGardener]

21. They'll make CFL's that are compatible with your old fixtures--

I use CFL's almost everywhere (recessed, sconces, etc.) except where I want a nice quality of light. But all new fixtures are eventually going to be made that won't be compatible at all with incandescents, from what I understand.

[Hannah Bell]

23. so you have to buy new ones of those, too, not just the bulbs. there's a stimulus plan.

i've tried those bulbs, i hate them. they don't last longer & almost started a fire in my porch light.

[TwilightGardener]

26. Well, when you replace a fixture, someday--for now you can just buy

a CFL that has an "Edison" base, that's what I've been doing. But I don't like them either--hate the color of the light. Instead of a nice warm yellow glow, everything looks harsh and bright as hell. And if I dropped an old bulb on the floor, all I had to worry about was bits of glass.

[Hannah Bell]

20. i tried the supposedly more efficient bulbs; they burn out before they're supposed to & generate

too much heat in enclosed spaces. too expensive as well. ripoff city.

i went back to regular bulbs. which can actually be produced to last a very long time. one of edison's originals is still burning.

[Mimosa]

25. The CFL's burn hot

and the light is odd.

I suspect many of us will be making room in closets to store a big supply of incandescents.