A manufacturing plant near Toledo is shutting down for good, and 104 workers now know exactly when their jobs will disappear. Cornerstone Building Brands plans to permanently close its Walbridge manufacturing facility, with layoffs beginning around December 1 and continuing through May 27, 2027.
The company filed a plant-closing notice with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, submitting it more than 60 days before the layoffs were scheduled to begin, as reported by Cleveland.com. The Walbridge site, located near Toledo, has handled vinyl window production and warehousing and has appeared in Cornerstone's facility portfolio since at least 2019, according to SEC filings. All 104 affected workers have been told when their jobs are expected to end, and the plant's employees are not represented by a union.
A Wide Range Of Positions Eliminated
The cuts touch nearly every corner of plant operations. Walbridge will lose 54 production associate positions and 11 lead production associate roles, along with jobs in shipping and receiving, quality assurance, customer service, information technology, and maintenance, per the company's state notice as reported by Cleveland.com.
Management ranks are being eliminated too. The plant manager, production manager, plant controller, human resources manager, and quality assurance manager positions will all be cut, along with production supervisor jobs, according to the same filing.
Company Says It Explored Alternatives
Cornerstone Building Brands said it looked for ways to avoid or limit the closure before ultimately determining it could not keep the Walbridge plant open, citing changing market and business conditions. The company employs about 19,400 workers across North America and manufactures vinyl siding, metal roofing, stone veneer, and windows and doors.
The closure follows the requirements of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which generally requires larger employers to give workers and the state at least 60 days' notice before certain plant closings and mass layoffs. Ohio also enacted its own mini-WARN law, codified at Ohio Revised Code § 4113.31, which took effect on September 29, 2025, and imposes the same 60-day advance notification requirement on mass layoffs and plant shutdowns within the state, according to Fisher Phillips. Ohio joined 14 other states in adopting such state-level layoff notice requirements.
Part Of A Broader Round Of Cuts
The Walbridge closure isn't an isolated move. In August, Cornerstone also filed a WARN notice announcing 61 permanent job cuts at a Ply Gem-branded extrusion plant in Kearney, Missouri, scheduled to take effect around October 19, according to Door and Window Market Magazine. That plant manufactures vinyl siding and trim.
The company's siding and accessories segment reported an 8.3 percent drop in net sales in 2025, falling to $1.16 billion amid volume declines and constrained building market conditions, the same publication reported. Adjusted EBITDA for that segment fell from $242.2 million to $199.8 million over the same period. Cornerstone has been under private equity ownership since Clayton, Dubilier & Rice completed an all-cash acquisition of the company valued at approximately $5.8 billion in July 2022.
Even as it trims vinyl operations, Cornerstone has been investing elsewhere. In 2024, the company agreed to acquire Texas-based Mueller Supply Co. for $475 million to expand its retail-direct metal roofing branch network, a deal that added roughly 900 employees and five manufacturing plants, according to Business North Carolina.
Local Labor Market Context
The Walbridge layoffs land in a region with a historically tight labor market. Wood County's unemployment rate stood at 4.3 percent in early 2024, down sharply from a recession-era high of 11.4 percent in 2009, and had reached a record low of 3.4 percent in January 2023, per data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Statewide, Ohio's unemployment rate was 3.4 percent in July, with manufacturing employment reaching 688,700 jobs and growing 2.0 percent over the prior year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The plant's shutdown also fits a longer pattern of industrial decline across the state. Ohio lost approximately 300,000 manufacturing jobs between 1999 and 2024 due to technological advances and shifting trade patterns, according to a report from Policy Matters Ohio. Manufacturing work has historically formed the backbone of middle-class employment with healthcare benefits across Ohio, the report notes.
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