Biden and Wabtec

His advance men have their heads where the sun does not shine

Political talk on railroading ok, STAY CIVIL.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news ... ting-down/

It should be noted that Wabtec announced layoffs Friday.
https://www.yourerie.com/news/local-new ... rie-plant/

Perhaps the advance team heard of the 100-150 permanent layoffs and converted the thought to "plant closing".
It is interesting that Wabtec made an "everything is fine" statement in response to Biden ... and then - oh by the way we are laying people off.

Yep, gotta say the optics aren't good. Start of the week, everyone was all sunshine and unicorns about Erie's future and trying to provide some positive cover for Biden's comment.

And now it looks like a 10% layoff -- last count I saw was around 1200 employees at the Erie plant. And it's announced on a Friday afternoon, which is certain to make sure it escapes the news cycle anywhere other than the local Erie market.

Unpopular opinion here -- Wabtec should be consolidating all this work in Texas. The operating costs of the Erie plant can't be good given its age, and Fort Worth is a lot closer to the US deep water ports used to ship export locomotives from. It won't help the workers in Ohio to keep facing layoffs. Close it, let them transfer and get a relative pay raise by moving to a no-income tax state...

The republican governator is correkt, it's Biden's job to emphasize the doom and gloom and uncertainty. OTOH he looks like Nostradamus with layoff being announced the same day.

Let's look at the Presidential Toolkit for Locomotive Manufacture:
- Enforce or strengthen Buy America
- Give Wabtec tax breaks
- Give Wabtec tax penalties if they go elsewhere
- Jawbone

Let's look at Wabtec. How are they doing compared to Siemens and Caterpillar?

I’ll be honest, I’m still wondering why GE sold off a perfectly profitable operating division...

Need the loot to pay me.

disclaimer; author long GE 3.5% '22 and 5.45% '23

General Electric is hellbent to eliminate all of its manufacturing, just be a finance & insurance company. Sort of like Penn Central became [change their name too].

Anyway, what is future for Grove City Engine Plant, circa late 1970s.

Here's an update regarding Wabtec and new factories. Seems like they're still expanding.

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/wa ... annel=news

Wabtec Corp. will open a new additive manufacturing facility in spring 2021 at the Pittsburgh Airport Innovation Campus.

It will produce “state-of-the-art, large-scale, lightweight parts” for transit and freight rail applications, and “reduce lead times by up to 80%,” Wabtec said. The company plans to use additive manufacturing in the production of more than 25,000 parts by 2025.

Wabtec is leasing more than 11,000 square feet of space in Neighborhood 91’s first building, which is under construction on the 195-acre airport campus. Neighborhood 91, developed in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh, is a new hub connecting all components of the additive manufacturing and 3D-printing supply chain.

“Additive technology is a key focus area for us that provides new capabilities to drive innovation where traditional manufacturing could not,” Wabtec Chief Technology Officer Eric Gebhardt said. “This agreement continues our investment in resources that enable our engineers to design new and complex products for the industries we serve.”

Wabtec also has 3D-printing labs in Erie and Grove City in western Pennsylvania.

They’re still shipping locos for Egypt. Building parts, assembled large components (ie cooling) for India, Egypt, Indonesia, et al. Additionally, Erie has been designated refurb, rebuild, and upgrade center.

Wabtec’s initial round of layoffs of 450 (?) haven’t come to pass. After the earlier and just announced layoffs, there will be roughly 1,200 union workers at the Lawrence Park, PA facility.

Things are better and not so much as informed folks are saying. Lastly, intermodal and carload (ie petroleum, chemicals, etc) counts have been edging up of late.

If I were a betting man, I’d say things have hit bottom and are now the up.

justalurker66 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2020 2:31 am It should be noted that Wabtec announced layoffs Friday.
https://www.yourerie.com/news/local-new ... rie-plant/

Perhaps the advance team heard of the 100-150 permanent layoffs and converted the thought to "plant closing".
It is interesting that Wabtec made an "everything is fine" statement in response to Biden ... and then - oh by the way we are laying people off.