LAYOFFS: Nasty Business at Fisher & Paykel

Where there once were hundreds of dirty and obsolete machines stamping out DCS products, there now runs a clean, brightly lit, high tech production facility.  Fisher & Paykel invested $9 million in the DCS plant after the acquisition only to report this week that the plant is closing with production and production tooling shifting to a Mexican facility recently purchased from Whirlpool for $33 million.  F&P also reported that it is shutting down plants in New Zealand and Australia.  
What does it mean?  
Thoughts:

• 1000 people will be out of work, 330 of them in Huntington Beach.  Another 1000 will be hired in Thailand, Italy and Mexico
• Americans can finally say to Mexico, "What Goes Around Comes Around"  after all their immigrants both documented and not have come up here, finally we have something to send them.  Let's see how they like them apples?
• Wiping out all US job opportunities is certainly an effective way to end illegal immigration.
• What's the meaning of 3 luxury and pro-style brands announcing a shift of production south? (GE Monogram, DCS, and Jennair made by DCS).
• What happens to the HB building owned by the original DCS founders and under long term lease?  Those guys will be fine........as always.
• Stock price rose 15% after being pegged as a takeover target by Reuters on April 7 based on a stock price drop of 31% year to date.

UPDATE May 14:  With Whirlpool, Electrolux, GE, LG, etc, etc all shifting to Mexico and other low cost production, one cannot expect F&P to swim up river. If there is a national goal to protect US manufacturing then US regulation must be passed to do it.

No matter the stock price, these are not the actions of a company enjoying unbridled prosperity.  There are huge risks associated with opening a new plant in Mexico, shifting lines to the far corners of the earth, depending upon a current and unhappy workforce with firm dates of execution, depending upon a future untrained workforce to quickly ramp up....and doing all of this in so many places and with so many lines simultaneously.
Risk is bad and this is a heaping helping of risk.

• Reader Report Apr 17:  20 sales, service and office personnel laid off last week because of lack of work.
• Odd Press Release title:  
  "FISHER & PAYKEL APPLIANCES ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF ITS U.S. MANUFACTURING WITH CONSOLIDATION OF NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIAN AND ORANGE COUNTY PLANTS TO ONE NORTH AMERICAN FACILITY".  
  How does one "Expand US Manufacturing" by shutting down US production and moving to Mexico?  Maybe the release text, and the release title come from two different PR departments.
• Reader Report Apr 19:  already gone through 2 rounds of layoffs, recently, heard upwards of 70, including 7 or so from engineering, etc. F&P will pickup the factory (machinery, robot welder…plus be able to do porcelain without California environmental oversight) and move it down to Mexico in a couple of weeks.
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