Scottsdale, Arizona-based TPI Composites, manufacturing composite products for industrial use and specializing in the global wind turbine blade industry, has announced that the company will be closing its Newton, Iowa manufacturing facility and laying off 710 employees by December 31, 2021.
It is believed that the cutback may be due to a general lack of business in the wind energy market and possibly the failure of the company to secure a contractual agreement to supply wind turbine blades to General Electric.
This closure follows a 2020 closure of another plant in Newton that manufactured parts for electric buses and transferred operations to a robot-equipped factory in Rhode Island.
TPI also closed a plant in Newton in 2020. The company produced parts for electric buses and shuttered the facility after investing in robots at a similar factory in Rhode Island, the Register previously reported. In a statement at the time, the company said that its wind blade facility could hire all of the bus factory's 150 employees.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?