Bauer Nike Hockey Inc. is cutting over 320 jobs at Canadian production facilities, the result of a broad re-organization of the company that will see the closure of a hockey stick factory and a goalie equipment plant in Ontario, and downsizing the labor force at a skate and helmet production facility in Quebec. The action cuts 59% of the BNH workforce.
The stick factory in Cambridge, Ontario will be downsized in January 2004 and closed by March 2004 and the goalie equipment facility in Mississauga, Ontario will close in May 2004. The skate and helmet plant in St. Jerome, Quebec will commence lay-offs in December. The lay-offs will impact 137 employees in Cambridge, 30 in Mississauga, and 154 in St. Jerome.
The company said more than 90% of the products produced by the affected factories will be outsourced to other Canadian factories, with the balance sourced from international suppliers.
“In the old days the market was really dominated by two brands, Bauer and CCM, and as products have changed, technologies have changed and new competitors have come into the marketplace,” said Chris Zimmerman, president and CEO of Bauer Nike Hockey, in a published report.
Zimmerman said in the report that new technologies have modernized the manufacturing and development of hockey equipment, particularly in sticks, which now require significant investment into research R&D. “Quite honestly, we've fallen behind as the business has moved from wood to composite,” he said in an interview.
BNH will still employ 225 people at its Canadian headquarters and distribution center in Ontario, the skate and helmet factory, and the research and development center, both based in Quebec. BNH also said it was making an investment in the design and development at the R&D facility.
