Grand Island plant lays off 128

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Grand Island’s CNH plant announced Friday that the plant was laying off 128 workers because of the downturn in the world economy.

According to CNH plant manager Bill Baasch, sales in the company’s combine business have dropped.

“It’s just that the economy is tough right now and the combine business is not at the levels it was last year,” Baasch said. “Around the world, the economic conditions are just making it tough for the farmers at this time.”

Combines produced at the CNH plant in Grand Island go to producers around the world.

Prior to the economic collapse, the farm equipment industry was coming off strong sales years.

But according to Farm Equipment magazine, the worldwide economy has yet to show significant signs of a strong recovery, which is hurting U.S. agriculture.

Baasch said the 128 people include 40 temporary employees and 88 hourly employees. The temporary employees will be laid off Dec. 21, the hourly employees Jan. 15.

In 2007, the CNH plant expanded its operations, adding about 70 jobs when the parent company, CNH Global, announced that as part of a companywide cost reduction plan, it was closing manufacturing facilities in Belleville, Pa., and Goodfield, Ill. The Grand Island plant started producing hay balers, wagons and other equipment that had been produced at the Belleville plant.

“We were fortunate to bring the work here into Grand Island, and we are still building those products,” Baasch said.

To accommodate the added manufacturing responsibilities, the company constructed a 90,000-square-foot addition on the west end of its Grand Island campus.

At the time of the expansion announcement, the Grand Island plant employed 691 people. CNH added 400 employees between the announcement and August 2008.

CNH received money from the State of Nebraska to build a plant addition, including a $200,000 forgivable loan for adding new employees. As part of the terms of the state funding, for each calendar year employment remains at 771 or above, an additional $50,000 of the loan will be forgiven. That means the full loan could be forgiven by Dec. 31, 2011.

Company officials did not release the plant’s anticipated work force numbers after the layoffs occur in December and January.

CNH, a leading global manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment with about 11,300 dealers in 170 countries, had net sales of $18.5 billion in 2008. Of total net revenues, agricultural equipment sales represented 70 percent, construction equipment about 24 percent and financial services about six percent.

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