TRUCKING
SW Ohio bracing for cuts
Butler County jobs have been caught in the cross hairs of a major national truck carrier’s consolidation plans.
Plans to close a freight distribution hub in southwest Ohio’s West Chester Township could affect as many as 541 jobs, according to a layoff notice filed last week with the Ohio Office of Workforce Development.
The job action would be Butler County’s largest mass layoff announcement since the recession started in 2008.
YRC Freight plans to close the West Chester trucking facility in May, company officials wrote in a letter dated March 11 to the state. Layoffs are expected to occur between May 12 and May 25, the company said.
More explanation of where the 541 union and nonunion job cuts listed come from was not clear in the letter. A spokesperson on behalf of the company did not respond to questions seeking clarification.
A YRC Freight truck terminal, next to the distribution center in West Chester, will stay open, union leader Butch Lewis said.
AIRLINES
Boeing repairs taking off
Boeing Co. said safety upgrades to the 787 Dreamliner’s battery systems might allow commercial flights to restart within weeks, ending a two-month grounding of the composite-plastic fleet.
Changes include installation of a new enclosure for the battery, a focus of regulatory probes after catching fire on one aircraft and smoking on another, and adjustments to the charger, Boeing said in Tokyo on Friday. The device will also undergo more rigorous tests, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Ray Conner said.
The improvements will allow the resumption of service once the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other regulators sign off, and Air India may fly its five 787s as soon as April. Boeing would also be able to restart deliveries of the aircraft, for which it has a backlog of more than 800 jets with a catalog value of about $187 billion.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Grocers excel in rankings
Grocery stores and fast-food restaurants dominated the top 10 spots in a national survey measuring the quality of customer service.
The 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings evaluate three areas of customer experience: functional (can customers do what they want to do), accessible (how easy it is to work with the company), and emotional (how consumers feel about their interactions).
Publix, Trader Joe’s and Aldi grocery chains commanded the top three spots, followed by Chick-fil-A (tied with Aldi), Sam’s Club, Amazon.com, Save-a-Lot, H.E.B. (another grocery chain), Little Caesar’s and Sonic Drive-In.
The three lowest-ranked companies among the 246 in the survey, according to the Temkin report (www. temkinratings.com), were Days Inn, Time Warner Cable and US Airways, which ranked last.
The survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers was conducted online during January, Temkin Group officials said.
Compiled from wire reports