GE to close two Kentucky plants

GE Lighting announced Thursday that it plans to close its Lexington Lamp Plant and Somerset Glass Plant by August 2017.

The Lexington plant employs 139 people, most of which are bulk manufacturing jobs.

The Somerset plant makes halogen lamps and employs 71 people.

In a release, a GE spokesperson said that consumer demand for traditional lighting is at an all-time low, and as a result, the Lexington plant is operating at 15 percent capacity.

Looking forward, GE Lighting will focus entirely on driving innovation and growth in LED technology," the GE spokesperson said in a statement. "By 2020, half of the US market’s consumer light bulb sockets will be LED and more than 80 percent of all global lighting revenues will come from LED."

The Somerset plant was also operating at about 20 percent capacity due to the market shifting to LED lighting, said Jack Mazurak, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

Original article: http://www.wkyt.com/content/news/GE-closing-Lexington-Lamp-Plant-150-people-losing-jobs-389901122.html