Manufacturing resumed early Monday at Daimler Trucks’ factory on Swan Island, nearly four weeks after it closed during the early days of Oregon’s coronavirus outbreak.

The closure put 600 Portland employees on unpaid furlough. Daimler initially blamed a parts shortage for the closure, but unions representing the plant’s employees said their members’ concerns about worker safety were also a factor.

“They heard from the unions, loud and clear, that the membership was very nervous,” said Dwain Panian of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, one of four unions representing Daimler employees in Portland.

Daimler spent the past few weeks redesigning its manufacturing process to give workers more space. Among other changes, the company split its workforce into two shifts to give employees more room on the factory floor.

“They’re listening to us, and we’re listening to them, and we’re all working together to have a safe environment,” Panian said.

Geoffrey Jansen, plant manager at the company’s Portland factory, said Daimler went through 500 separate processes to ensure each can give workers at least 6 feet of separation from one another to prevent the virus from spreading. He said Daimler made a number of other changes to ensure the workplace was safe.

“Engineers are creating new tools, new equipment,” Jansen said. “We’re physically moving where people do their jobs to further space them out.”

Many Oregon manufacturers have continued operating during the outbreak, including Intel, ON Semiconductor and Boeing. But some, including Gunderson, Evraz and Precision Castparts, have closed portions of their operations or significantly reduced their workforce due to declining demand for their products.

Lam Research briefly shuttered its Tualatin semiconductor equipment factory last month amid employee and supervisor concerns about workplace conditions. Lam reopened soon after conversations with Oregon health officials and a thorough cleaning.

Manufacturing workers account for nearly 15,000 of the 300,000 new jobless claims submitted since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the Oregon Employment Department.

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway |

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