Andersen to lay off 440 workers

Window maker Andersen Corp. is laying off 440 workers, the company said today.

The layoffs will be effective Jan. 2, 2007. About 400 workers at the company's Bayport facility will be laid off along with 40 workers at its Menominoie, Wis., assembly assembly. The company doesn't have any expectation of further reductions, said Maureen McDonough, a spokeswoman in a conference call with reporters.

Most of the jobs lost were in production but a few were managers and supervisors. The cuts affected employees with the least amount of senority and they are likely going to be permanant, she said.

"We have told employees that there will be a two-year call back period if business conditions improve. We would love that to happen, but we don't really expect that it will."

Andersen anticipated that 2006 would bring less volume than 2005, which was the peak of housing starts, McDonough said. "What we didn't anticipate was the real dramatic decline that happened in about April of this year."

Andersen, a private company that expects about $2.5 billion in 2006 sales, is the largest maker of windows and doors in the world.

Andersen employs about 15,000 people worldwide and 2,600 production workers in Bayport and about 340 in Menomonie.

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