Your humble editor spoke to Joe Colant, VP Sales, for Cree Lighting, which is part of Ideal Industries. Joe explained that in essence there had been two Cree headquarters, one in Racine and the other in Durham, with this announcement Racine will be the headquarters. The announcement we posted shows that 44 workers are being affected, but 33 of them will have the opportunity to move to Racine. Joe clarified this a bit as there are more than 44 workers in Durham now, but they have been working remotely because of COVID and they will now work remotely, permanently.
Colant stated that Cree Lighting was adapting and focusing on outdoor lighting which is their strength. He named Petroleum and Roadway as two channels that were experiencing significant growth. He emphasize the importance of selling thought the rep channel to electrical distributors. Colant explained that Racine is a very strong facility and Ideal will continue to invest in Racine.