17.06.2001

JLG cuts 635 jobs, but will open Belgian factory

Permanent closure of JLG’s Weber Lane factory in Bedford, Pennsylvania has been announced by the company. The closure will take place during the first quarter of fiscal 2002, which means the three months commencing August 1, 2001. Facilities at the 75 000 square foot facility will be relocated to other JLG factories. Closure of the factory will mean that approximately 265 people will lose their jobs during the next two months. The company simultaneously announced that about 370 other people will lose their jobs during the months leading up to August. This means a total of 635 will be made redundant.

Bill Lasky, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, said: “Over the past twelve months, we have made great strides in improving our manufacturing processes and throughput capability. A by-product of these improvemets is significant additional capacity to the point where we can permanently reduce our fixed as well as our variable overhead without sacrificing our ability to satisfy customer needs”.

The company has meanwhile announced that it intends to open a European factory in Belgium’s Limburg province during the first quarter of its fiscal year 2002. The site that has been chosen is an existing 80,000 square feet facility in the city of Maasmechelen.

“Among the first products to be available from the facility over the next 12 months will be JLG's most popular scissor lift and boom lift models designed specifically to meet European market requirements” said Bill Lasky.