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Report: Vermont Castings To Close Bethel Plant

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.

Steve has been with VPR since 1994, first serving as host of VPR’s public affairs program and then as a reporter, based in Central Vermont. Many VPR listeners recognize Steve for his special reports from Iran, providing a glimpse of this country that is usually hidden from the rest of the world. Prior to working with VPR, Steve served as program director for WNCS for 17 years, and also worked as news director for WCVR in Randolph. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Steve also worked for stations in Phoenix and Tucson before moving to Vermont in 1972. Steve has been honored multiple times with national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for his VPR reporting, including a 2011 win for best documentary for his report, Afghanistan's Other War.
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