SKF UK (a division of SKF AB, Sweden; website) announced workers at its Luton headquarters factory will be put on 4-day workweeks, still trying to balance production to declining demand.

Earlier this year, the Luton plant was on shutdown for a week. Then it began taking individual shutdown days. Approximately 265 people work on the shop floor at Luton.

article: SKF Luton on weeklong shutdown
Shop workers will still be paid their full rate, including up to four shutdown days per month. If the plant is on shutdown for more than four days per month, however, workers will not be paid for those additional days.

The Luton factory manufactures large spherical roller bearings (Explorer) from 20mm through 100mm ID, and CARB (Compact Aligning Roller Bearing) toroidal roller bearings, primarily for heavy-duty industrial, papermaking, steel production, and mining equipment applications. Luton also produces sealed spherical roller bearings designed for applications exposed to very high temperatures where lubricants are compromised, such as steel furnaces.

SKF has been located in Luton since 1910. The original plant, finished in 1911, was SKF's first purpose-built bearing manufacturing plant outside Sweden. It was built strictly to supply bearings to the nearby Vauxhall and Bedford car and truck plants. The current facility was built in 1955.

An SKF spokesman said: "We are not struggling; it is just a situation where our customers have reduced their purchases so we are matching demand. We are measuring the situation week by week."

If business does not improve, SKF said it may revisit the situation and have to resort to additional layoffs. So far, SKF said it is trying to avoid layoffs which may leave it short on skilled workers once business does start to improve.