Vermont Castings will close its Bethel assembly plant within the next year, according to the Herald of Randolph.
Vermont Castings Group President Ricardo Leon told the newspaper the closing has been planned for some time and workers are aware of it.
Leon says the company’s foundry in Randolph will remain in full production and some of the Bethel operation will be moved to Randolph.
According to paper, the closure “will entail the loss of at least 40 job…some of which are not full-year jobs.”
When it was established in Randolph in 1973, Vermont Castings was a locally owned company. Since then it has been sold repeatedly.
The Vermont Castings Group, which is based in Paris, Kentucky, acquired the company in 2013.
The company has been a subsidiary of HNI Corporation in Muscatine, Iowa since October, when the group’s owners sold it. HNI is a large manufacturer of office furniture and hearth productions.
According to documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, HNI paid $62.2 million for Vermont Castings.
The company says 130 people are employed at its Randolph foundry and 80 are employed in Bethel.
