Eleven full-time employees were laid off this week at Hendrickson Trailer Suspension Systems in Mitchell, continuing a trend in the manufacturing industry city-, state- and nationwide.
Dave Decker, director of human resources for Hendrickson International, of Canton, Ohio, confirmed in a Friday telephone interview that the employees were laid off at the company's plant in Mitchell.
They're the latest layoffs in the heavy manufacturing industry in Mitchell. Last month, 42 employees were laid of at Trail King, Mitchell's largest for-profit private employer, and in November, Dakota Manufacturing laid off approximately 14 workers.
Prior to the layoffs, Trail King employed more than 400 people, while Dakota Manufacturing -- whose staff works at sites in Mitchell, Corsica and Platte -- employed 140.
In addition to the layoffs at Trail King, the company announced a three-week shutdown, scheduled to begin Dec. 30. Although the company will reopen to some employees Monday -- the scheduled reopening date -- it likely will be relying on a reduced crew, said Chuck Noel, a vice president of finance at Trail King.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We had planned to have everyone coming back Monday, but as we looked at the production schedule, we realized that certain departments needed to come back earlier than others," Noel said. "We were hoping more orders would come in and everyone would be back on the 19th, but when that didn't happen, we looked at our schedule and where we needed people."
Noel said most of the employees will be back at work Monday. More are coming back Jan. 26 and everyone still on staff will be back Feb. 2.
He also said two recent layoffs of managers had to do with a company reorganization and not the economy. He also dispelled rumors from earlier this week that Trail King had undertaken another large round of layoffs.
At Hendrickson, Decker said "there's been a significant reduction in the sales of commercial trucks and trailers. Since this is the market Hendrickson serves we have been required to take actions to reduce our costs and downsize our operations to meet lower product demands within our industry."
Hendrickson's Mitchell layoffs became official Thursday. The plant had 88 full-time employees prior to the layoffs, said Decker, who characterized the layoff period as "indefinite."
