NEWARK, Ohio (AP) -- About 300 workers will lose their jobs as a maker of lighting fixtures downsizes operations in central Ohio's Licking County.
Acuity Brands Inc. said Tuesday that its Holophane division will shut down the assembly department of its Newark plant by February and close its factory in Utica by March 31. The moves will eliminate around 150 jobs at each site.
Atlanta-based Acuity is making 800 cuts companywide.
Fourteen-year Holophane employee Steve Barrett says employees in Utica got the news Tuesday morning. The 58-year-old says workers were devastated.
Holophane was founded in London, England, in 1896 and later moved to Newark. National Service Industries bought Holophane in 1999, then created Acuity Brands as a spinoff two years later.