[mml]

They still have production in the US? they started moving out in the early 80s. My dad was involved in the re-assembly of the pipework for a specialized glass production facility (specialized lenses etc) physically disassembled & moved from the US to Xian china in '86. Even in the early 90's, most of their mech engineering was contracted out. Surprised they have 2000 employees to lay off tbh.

[dsfyu404ed]

Yes of course they do. They just don't employ that many people to do it. With the kind of materials they handle there's not much for humans to do except run machines and more and more of that becomes automated at time goes on. Highly automated production like that is one of the few kinds of manufacturing it still makes sense to do in the first world because getting factory set up here is still cheaper than doing it half way around the world and if you're highly automated the downside (high labor costs) is not an issue. Of course they product stuff in China, India, etc. as well. They're a global company with a diverse portfolio so they have the ability to locate different things in different places in whichever way makes the most sense.

Whether they have their engineering in the US is a different story (though I'm sure some of it is).