Posted on 12/22/2015 6:05:51 AM PST by thackney
More Houston-area energy jobs are on the chopping block next year as Dresser-Rand announced plans to shutter a North Houston support facility and lay off 72 people who work there.
The company said it will "cease operations at the facility" at 20120 E. Hardy Road, with the shutdown slated to finalize between Feb. 21 and March 5, Dresser-Rand said in a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission.
Dresser-Rand, which makes turbo compressors, turbines, valves and other components for the energy industry, was acquired by German industrial conglomerate Siemens earlier this year.
Like other companies that manufacture and maintain equipment for energy companies, Siemens has seen its revenue diminish amid the prolonged downturn in oil prices.
In a meeting with reporters in September, a Siemens executive said the company had not had to lay off any workers but was considering its options since the acquisition of Dresser-Rand had closed. During a briefing, Lisa Davis, member of Siemens' managing board, acknowledged that the company was looking for ways to pare back, particularly in areas in which Siemens and Dresser-Rand overlapped.
Through various cost-cutting measures, Siemens expected to collect more than $225 million in so-called synergies.
Davis added, though that the company's acquisitions of Dresser-Rand and Rolls-Royce's energy aero-derivative gas turbine and compressor business strengthened its portfolio. Many of Siemens customers remained interested in investing in technology and applications aimed at helping them cut costs and become more productive, she said.
The job losses are the latest for Houston's energy workforce, which has been pummeled by the collapse in oil prices. In the past year, the metro area ha shed 5,500 oil and gas jobs, including positions at exploration and production firms as well as oil field services jobs. In addition, the Houston area has lost 15,400 manufacturing jobs, a 6 percent decline in that workforce since last November, as factories slash feel the pinch from a slowdown in demand from energy companies.
Engulf and devour, Siemans.
Sad news.
Dresser Rand is one of our largest customers, but from the main plant of theirs, in Painted Post, NY.
I didn’t even know they had a facility on Hardy.
They still have a big facility at I-10 and Beltway 8 in Houston.
Now they can start enjoying life instead of all that drudgery ,, perhaps they can write poetry.
At least they aren’t shuttering the plant quite yet.
Whoops, didn’t see that they are shuttering the shutter plant. Drat
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