Siemens, Coca-Cola Plants To Leave Green Country

Two global companies are moving out of Green Country and that means hundreds of jobs are leaving the area.

Bartlesville city leaders spoke Wednesday about the impact on the community and the economy.

The numbers are still a little fuzzy, but between Siemens leaving Bartlesville and Coca-Cola leaving Okmulgee, these announcements could mean the loss of nearly 400 jobs.

German-based company Siemens announced this week it's leaving Bartlesville.

The plant, which makes a part for Petro-chemical manufacturing, is relocating to Houston.

A company spokesperson said Siemens has 135 employees at its Bartlesville location. 100 of those jobs will move to Texas and 36 will be eliminated.

Bartlesville Mayor Dale Copeland said the news came as a blow.

"They've been here for a long time. Many decades and when that sort of announcement comes out it catches you by surprise and it certainly did," Copeland said. 

This comes after an announcement by Coca-Cola this week that they'll be closing their plant in Okmulgee and consolidating with their Oklahoma City location.

Coca-Cola's spokesperson said the move is to make their Oklahoma operations more efficient.

The consolidation, which includes jobs in Oklahoma City, could result in eliminating a total OF 246 jobs. 

However, they said, "Our Okmulgee distribution center's frontline salespeople, drivers, and merchandisers are not impacted."

Even with that, people said they're concerned.

"When you lose 246 jobs in a community, it’s devastating," said resident Adrian Beachel. 

Back in Bartlesville while the news of the Siemens move isn't welcome folks are being optimistic.

"That's the good thing about Bartlesville right now, everything seems to be booming," said Jeremy Campbell. 

“It's actually an 18-month announcement and we appreciate Siemens for giving us that long lead time that will allow us to prepare and allow their employees to prepare for the change," Mayor Copeland said. 

If you want to read more about why both these companies are moving out of Green Country, here are the full statements:

Over the past number of years, Siemens has focused much of its oil and gas-related operations in and around the Houston area in order to best serve its customers. Currently, nearly ninety percent of customers served by the Bartlesville, OK facility, which produces gas chromatographs, a highly-specialized analytical instrument to measure chemical composition directly in petroleum and chemical manufacturing processes, are located in the Gulf Coast. In order to bring operations closer to its customers and remain competitive, Siemens has chosen to transfer its Bartlesville, OK plant operations to an existing facility in Houston, TX. The transition is expected to be complete by fall 2019. Integrating these business operations into a single location in Houston will allow Siemens to better serve its customer base, combine similar manufacturing processes, and streamline supply chain and logistics.

There are approximately 135 employees in the Bartlesville location. About 100 existing positions are expected to transfer to the Houston location, and Siemens employees will be given an opportunity to apply for these openings or within other Siemens businesses. In addition, a small number of positions will move to a satellite office in Bartlesville and it is anticipated that 36 positions overall will be eliminated as a result of the transition.

Siemens highest priority in this transition is our employees. Many existing positions within the plant are expected to transfer to Houston and employees will be given an opportunity to apply for these openings or within other Siemens businesses. The transition will take place throughout the coming months, and should be completed by September 30, 2019.  We will also provide professional provisions, such as severance and outplacement assistance, to employees whose jobs are affected. This extremely difficult decision was not made lightly, and we thank our employees for their continued hard work and dedicated service. 

The Bartlesville facility has been part of Siemens when the company acquired Applied Automation in 1999.  The plant produces gas chromatographs, a highly-specialized analytical instrument to measure chemical composition directly in petroleum and chemical manufacturing processes.

Siemens has been in the U.S. for over 160 years and it is now the company’s largest market. In the past 15 years alone, Siemens has invested approximately $40 billion in America. We have thousands of employees across all 50 states and more than 60 manufacturing sites, and the company hires more than 4,000 workers in the US each year. There are also 800,000 U.S. jobs linked to our global business operations. Siemens chooses to invest in the U.S. because the country is an extremely vital production location, is home to some of the most productive workers in the world, provides access to the world’s leading research institutions and offers a robust supply chain that supports economic growth.

Robert Bartels

Siemens Spokesperson

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages is committed to investing in our business in Oklahoma.  We remain focused on providing the highest quality products and best customer service.  
Beginning in March 2018, to bring greater efficiencies to our local operations, we are evolving the operating model for Oklahoma to resemble the rest of the Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages operations.  CCSWB's integration of this new operating model into our existing organization requires changes to more effectively utilize our production capacity as well as a broader reorganization of other support functions in Oklahoma City. We are consolidating the Okmulgee manufacturing facility's volume into our Oklahoma City manufacturing facility.  While we are closing the manufacturing operations in Okmulgee, our Okmulgee distribution center's frontline salespeople, drivers and merchandisers are not impacted.
We've informed our associates that we are designing a new operating model to support our growth strategy for the future.  We shared that these changes occurring in Oklahoma City and Okmulgee locations could result in approximately 246 job reductions, which about half of those from Oklahoma City, will be made through attrition, moving roles, and where necessary, job elimination.  While difficult, these changes are helping us create a faster, leaner and more agile organization to accelerate growth in the local marketplace.
We do not take decisions about job impacts lightly and are committed to treating our people with dignity, fairness and respect throughout this process.  Eligible associates will be given an opportunity to apply for current open roles in the Oklahoma market and access job postings across CCSWB and other bottles and the Coca-Cola system.  All impacted employees will have the opportunity to attend interviewing skills and resume writing workshops.  Also, CCSWB will partner with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission for assistance and will provide an employee assistance program as well as a severance package or relocation assistance.
We remain committed to making a positive difference in our local communities where we live and work.  We will continue to support organizations and community initiatives as we've done for decades.

Ish Arebalos 

Coca-Cola Community Relations