After a year-long effort to trim expenses and focus on products less vulnerable to foreign competition, Summitville Tiles says it has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In a letter to employees, suppliers and customers, the 92-year old Ohio-based manufacturer said it used the past year to "re-invent itself and to recover from the ravages of global competition."
The company, which three years ago had a workforce of 650, now has about 250 workers at plants in the Ohio cities of Summitville, Minerva and Peking. Over the past two years it also scaled back its product line from about 10,000 to 3,000 skus, according to executive vice president Bruce Johnson.