Ash Grove Cement Shutting Down, Daimler Trucks Stays Open

This week's Around the State publication continued to show turbulance in Oregon's business community. Here are a few snippets from the release:

Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield in Medford hired dozens of workers recently and plans to do so again, but they need people to apply. They say many potential employees are discouraged by the unemployment rate and don’t realize how many local opportunities exist. KTVL.com 9-16-09

Uni-Chem, a South Korean manufacturer, is buying the closed Hynix computer chip plant in Eugene and plans to renovate it for solar cell manufacturing. The plant could employ up to 1,000 workers. Register-Guard, 9-27-09

Kansas-based Ash Grove Cement will shut down production at its cement factory in Durkee, along with eight other factories around the nation, due to the continued national construction slowdown. It will lay off 68 of its 115 employees. The Oregonian, 10-1-09

Daimler Trucks North America will keep its Swan Island plant open, shelving earlier plans to close it by 2010. However, its long-term viability may depend on whether it can reach a labor contract agreement providing cost reductions and flexibility with work rules to remain competitive. It employs about 606 union workers, following retirements and a round of 200 layoffs earlier this year. Portland Business Journal, 9-28-09

Around the State is a weekly publication summarizing business openings, closures, expansions, and reductions throughout Oregon.