Ketboards manufacturer Key Tronic Corp, Spokane, Washington, is cutting another 150 of its 2,000-strong workforce in the Spokane area, saying that the action is one of several steps taken to counteract market and operational pressures on its gross margins. The company says that while orders and ships are still quite strong, the company needs to cut costs to win the intense competitive battle with foreign manufacturers – it estimates that facing foreign competitors have wage and salary costs one-fourth or less its own. Key Tronic has also had to spend more than $1m to protect residents living near the Colbert Landfill whose wells have been polluted by chemical compounds that were tipped in the landfill by Key Tronic and many others during an era when to do so was accepted and legal, and it will have to contribute to several millions more that must still be spent.
