PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula Plywood mill laid off nearly a quarter of its work force today.
The company, attributing the move in a written statement to a weak market and improvements in productivity, gave pink slips to 35 employees.
The mill had 154 employees as of August.
“The weak market, combined with a seasonal downturn, would have created some layoffs anyway,” PenPly President Josh Renshaw said in the statement.
“But we’ve made some recent changes in process that have improved our productivity. That made the layoff larger than it would have been if it as just market based.”
The layoffs appear to be the first for the company, which has operated the mill since March.
It furloughed 92 employees for a week in August. Renshaw attributed the furloughs then mostly to slumping customer confidence caused by a fire in May that destroyed the control room for the mill’s two boilers.
The fire put another 90 workers out of work for a week.
PenPly’s management declined to be interviewed.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
