DMAX to lay off at least 280, have one production shift
Saturday, October 25, 2008
MORAINE — A few hundred workers at the DMAX engine plant here will be laid off, effective Nov. 17 as the facility transitions to a single production shift.
Plans call for the company, a joint venture between General Motors Corp. and Isuzu, to lay off 282 hourly workers and up to 25 salaried employees next month, said Courtney Stickler, a DMAX spokeswoman.
"We're trying to align our production volumes with market demands based on our forecasts as they are today," Stickler said.
The cuts would leave DMAX's Moraine facility with 435 hourly workers. The plant has 161 salaried workers and management has not determined how many will be let go, Stickler said.
In September, the company had told state officials that it planned to let go of up to 330 people as orders for its diesel engines fell off along with the sales of the heavy-duty trucks they power.
In early June, the company announced an additional round of 290 jobs cuts at the plant that went into effect in July.
The factory produces motors for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty truck models as well as the Kodiak and Topkick heavy-duty trucks.
Company officials have said they don't expect the series of layoffs to affect GM's $69 million investment in the plant for the production of a 6.6-liter, V-8 turbo diesel engine that meets stricter federal emissions requirements.
"That investment is going forward," Stickler said.
