Pine Hall Brick lays off 18

By John Crane

Published: October 1, 2008

Pine Hall Brick Inc., an 86-year-old residential brick-producing business in Madison, laid off 18 employees Monday.
The brick-production workers were let go with a severance package and job-search assistance, said Vernon Moore, vice president of operations at Pine Hall Brick. Moore said the slumping housing market played a role in the job cuts and has reduced the plant to about 60 percent of its production capacity.
“It started slowing down last year,” he said.
It was the first round of job reductions at the facility since the late 1970s. Pine Hall Brick, in operation since 1922, has three plants in Madison that employ more than 300, Moore said. The brick manufacturer, headquartered in Winston-Salem, also has two plants in Georgia.
Moore said it’s never good to have to eliminate jobs, but the drop in demand had to be addressed. Pine Hall makes residential face brick and is the largest clay-paver manufacturer in the country, he said.
Moore said he does not anticipate more layoffs.