Briggs close to agreement for "prospective partnership" for Die Cast Division

By Scott Godshaw

Informational meetings were conducted on August 22nd and 23rd for all Burleigh plant hourly members. An update and overview of MED South & North and Die Cast were included.

The major news of the meeting came from the Die Cast division. Briggs & Stratton, at this time, is near agreement for a prospective partnership with a company they are not allowed to reveal at this time. In Die Cast, they are at full capacity in the 900 and 1200 ton areas. In the 600 ton area, there are 6 idle machines, which are in bad shape and not in service. Internal sales have been declining since Fiscal 2000. Now external work is greater than internal work by a 54% to 46% ratio.

It is anticipated that Die Cast will be moved out to a separate location but will remain in the Milwaukee area to utilize and retain skilled people. At this time there are 372 hourly and 54 salary people in the Die Cast division.

South Building

In the graphic that was shown, it did not include the two-story South building. The plan is to move everything out of the South building and place it in the vacated Die Cast area. The South building will then be demolished and the land will eventually be sold.

The South end includes but is not limited to coils, stators, pins, tappets, and pistons. There are 487 different part numbers and 250 million parts were shipped in fiscal 2002. New parts will continue to be quoted. As of July 2002, there were 463 hourly and 62 salary people.

If and when the deal is signed, it will take one year to physically move Die Cast out and one additional year to physically move the South building into Die Cast.

On the North end, the Model 9H assembly line will be moved to Auburn on December 20, 2002. Also moving to Auburn will be the 9H Fuel Tank in October of 2002 and the 9H Blower in November 2002. The Model 9H Cylinder, Cover, and Head will remain in M-3.

In the Slitter Building, the coater line has been discontinued however the stub line will remain at this time.

In M-8, the V-Twin Flywheel will move to Auburn around the end of 2002. The Model 12 and 9H Flywheels will remain along with the Model 28 and 31 Counterweights until they are obsolete which should be around June 2003.

Micro & Outboard Engines

The Micro Engine will go back into production in September. The Outboard Motor went into production in August with low volume but should increase in November. The open space will be used for warehousing Generac products, which already began in July.

The EX Engine which was to be in production by July 2004 is now being pushed back to April 2005.

By the end of the year, 165 hourly jobs will remain in MED North along with 7 salary people.

The Model 9 assembly line and M-1 will eventually be re-tooled for the EX Engine.

There was allotted time for questions after the presentation.