Cannondale completed an audit of its manufacturing processes and has decided to lay off 52 of their Bedford, PA employees. This move is intended to make the company more competitive in the U.S. cycling market, where most other manufacturers use less expensive off-shore labor.
“Cannondale is the only major bike company that produces all of its bicycles here in America, and we're very proud of that fact,” said Larry Sarver, Cannondale's VP of Manufacturing. “Because we're paying U.S. workers U.S. wages, and our competitors are using cheap foreign labor, we absolutely have to keep our operations as lean and efficient as possible.”
The company currently employs over 650 people worldwide, with 400 of those in Bedford. Newly minted COO John Doer said Cannondale was obligated, “to employees worldwide to make the right, albeit painful, decisions necessary to maximize our competitiveness We were able to institute process improvements and enhance the physical layout of the factory.”
The company was also able to make changes that allow them to be more flexible to the changing bike market. These factory changes come on the heels of an executive restructuring (SEW_0341).
