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Article Excerpt
Byline: Robert Luke
Nov. 8--The ailing housing industry is beginning to infect related businesses, such as those that make and sell wallboard, carpet, paint, cabinets, faucets and tools.
It also is hurting mortgage lenders.
The spreading weakness is affecting the financial performance of those companies and clouding their outlooks, causing share prices to sink.
So to protect themselves against any turn for the worse, some companies are taking strong medicine.
"We have reduced a lot of staffing in the plants," said Jeffrey Lorberbaum, chief executive of Calhoun-based Mohawk Industries, a maker of carpet and other floor coverings. "We have cut shifts in the plants. We have reduced administrative people. We have reduced some salespeople."
More cost-cutting is on the way, Lorberbaum told analysts last month in a conference call to discuss third-quarter results.
"We have a stack of projects on the table that's probably about 15 pages long," he...
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