By Boris Ladwig, The Republic
bladwig@therepublic.com
Cummins Inc. will lay off 212 Diesel Workers Union members due primarily to an expected decline in heavy-duty truck sales.
Beginning no later than Jan. 2, Cummins will lay off 195 DWU members at Fuel Systems Plant, said Mark Land, executive director of corporate communications.
The Fuel Systems layoffs are a result of an expected decline for heavy-duty truck engines.
New emissions standards will take effect Jan. 1, and customers have been buying more trucks with the older engines to avoid having to buy the new, compliant - and more expensive - trucks in January. Cummins has said the new trucks will cost about $10,000 more than the current models.
Cummins already had announced it would cut heavy-duty engine production at Jamestown, N.Y., by 80 percent and lay off 400 at the Jamestown Engine Plant.
Fuel Systems
The Fuel Systems Plant, along U.S. 31 north of Centra Credit Union, makes high-pressure fuel systems for heavy-duty engines. The system controls when, how much and under what pressure fuel is injected.
The expected heavy-duty decline also will result in 22 employees at Plant 1 taking a voluntary temporary leave, Land said. Those employees machine heavy-duty cylinder heads and blocks. "Our hope is to start bringing
people back in the second quarter," Land said.
Light-duty layoffs
Cummins also will lay off 17 Plant 1 employees who are working on the yet-to-be-launched light-duty diesel project.
Cummins in 2006 had said it planned to begin LDD production at Plant 1 by the end of the decade after investing $250 million employing between 600 and 800.
The company has said, however, that the project has been delayed, partially by Chrysler's bankruptcy.
The two companies had planned to use a light-duty Cummins diesel for the 1500 model Ram.
Chrysler has canceled the LDD contract with Cummins, although the engine maker has said negotiations are continuing, and the project merely is delayed - not scrapped.
Land said Monday that the LDD layoffs likely would be longer-term than the heavy-duty-related layoffs.