McNeil & NRM lays off Akron employees

AKRON (Jan. 17)—Tire machinery manufacturer McNeil & NRM Inc. has laid off an undetermined numberof its 80 employees at its Akron site, following the trend of many competitors and customers in the rubber industry during a difficult economic period. Most of the employees were factory workers, with a few other areas feeling the hit as well, said John McCormick, the firm's executive vice president of sales. Some of the people laid off already were in the process of changing jobs, he said. As of last fall, McNeil & NRM hadn't felt the full force of the economic downturn because its heavy machinery production is in Romania, having been moved to a sister plant in Bucharest in fall of 2000. But it couldn't escape the eventual cost-cutting and layoffs other companies have endured