Inc. announced it will close domestic bedding facilities in Alabama, Florida and Georgia by the end
of August 2007. Plants to be closed include the Abbeville Fabrication Plant, Abbeville, Ala.;
Opelika Finishing Plant and Grifftex Chemicals, Opelika, Ala.; Marianna Plant, Marianna, Fla.; and
WestPoint Graphics, West Point, Ga.
The approximately 1,000 associates affected by the closures will be eligible for assistance
under the US Department of Labor’s Trade Act of 1974.
The company also has cut approximately 40 positions at its corporate office in New York City
and outside sales offices.
According to WestPoint Home, the closures and job eliminations are part of its strategy to
streamline domestic production and expand overseas operations and its global supply chain in order
to compete effectively in the global market.
“We have a strategy that we’re clearly streamlining our domestic and growing our overseas
operations,” said Carolyn D’Angelo, senior vice president, corporate marketing. “However, there are
certain categories where if it makes sense to keep it here, then it stays here.”
D’Angelo said the company will employ approximately 4,200 associates in the United States
after the closures just announced, and that domestic manufacturing is continuing in most of its
product categories.
June 5, 2007
