Owens Corning cutting production in Newark

Toledo building supply giant Owens Corning Inc. on Wednesday announced plans to trim production at one of its factories in Newark, a move sparked by the nation’s rough housing market.

Company spokesman Jason Saragian said the Newark plant that produces insulation will lose 93 production days this year. The revised work schedule recently was ratified in a vote from the Glass Molders Pottery Local 244 union.

The Newark facility employs more than 700 and is home to line and pipe factories. Those facilities will remain operational throughout the year, Saragian said.

The number of workers who will be affected by the unpaid furloughs, set to take place throughout the year, wasn’t available.

Saragian in an e-mail response to questions from Columbus Business First cautioned that the company “is proactively managing its building materials capacity and cost structure to stay ahead of demand weakness.”

Owens Corning (NYSE:OC), which employs 3,000 in Ohio and 18,000 company-wide, has been working to keep in line with changing market conditions for more than a year. The company in the fourth quarter of 2007 began a restructuring that included eliminating hundreds of jobs and closing some facilities.

The company in the first three quarters of 2008 lost $794 million on $4.56 billion in revenue.

In addition to Owens Corning’s Toledo headquarters and Newark operations, the company’s Ohio operations include an insulation and manufacturing facility in Tallmadge, a roofing plant in Medina, an insulation facility in Mount Vernon and a science and technology facility in Granville.