New Balance plans to close its factory in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood in February, eliminating 63 jobs.
“New Balance is focused on ensuring our business strategy, operations and structure are aligned to advance our most critical growth priorities,” Amy Dow, New Balance director of public relations and government affairs, said in an e-mailed statement. “The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need to accelerate our ongoing organizational transformation, which has resulted in a U.S. workforce reduction impacting a small percentage of our U.S. associates. We have made the difficult decision to close our Boston Factory in February 2021 as we align expansion of our domestic manufacturing initiatives with our business priorities and global consumer demand. We have fostered a fair and respectful process and will support impacted associates throughout the transition. New Balance remains fully committed to manufacturing athletic footwear in the U.S. with job and production increases planned across our other New England factories, including the opening of a new factory in Methuen, MA, in summer 2021.”
The Boston Globe reported that New Balance is also cutting fewer than 50 non-manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Taken together, the job reductions represent 110 or so employees out of a global workforce of 7,700, including about 3,500 in the U.S.
The company also operates factories in Lawrence, MA and three factories in Maine. A new “Factory of the Future” in Methuen, a city on the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border and north of Lawrence, MA is still scheduled to open in summer 2021, focusing on manufacturing development, automation, research, and 3-D manufacturing. The Methuen facility is expected to create 60 jobs.
Earlier this year, at the start of the pandemic, the company furloughed some of its retail, factory and office workforce in response to COVID-19. Joe Preston, New Balance president and CEO, said senior-level associates saw salary reductions, and he saw a 50 percent salary cut.
Photo courtesy New Balance
