Layoffs announced Wednesday at Emporia’s Detroit Diesel plant bring the country’s economic recession closer to home.
Between Oct. 19 and Jan. 13, 75 positions at the local Detroit Diesel will be cut as its parent company, Daimler Trucks North America, plans to consolidate remanufacturing activities to its plant in Cambridge, Ohio.
Production of remanufactured two-cycle engines will move to the Ohio plant, and production of the Mercedes-Benz MB4000 remanufactured engines will also move to another facility, according to a statement released by Daimler Trucks.
The consolidation is a response to the economic downturn, the release stated.
Mayor Jeff Longbine said he had received a WARN notice from the company announcing the job cuts would occur. The notice is required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
“We are disappointed but understanding that it’s a difficult decision to make during these tough economic times,” Longbine said Wednesday. “Our thoughts and our concerns are with the displaced workers and their families, and the remaining workers and management who have had to make these decisions.”
Longbine said the city’s residents are resilient, as proven by the community’s reaction to the Tyson layoffs last year.
“The city stands ready to assist the displaced workers and accompany them in any way we can,” he said.
Help for the employees could come in a number of forms, Longbine said, including training through Kansas Job Works, the Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Development Association.
“It’s early in the process,” Longbine said. “We don’t know when their last day of work will be, and so I think the first thing we have to do is we have to determine what the needs may be and what we have within our ability to serve those needs.”
Detroit Diesel opened in Emporia in July 1990 with 50 employees. The company saw several expansions over the years, moving from a smaller facility on 12th Avenue to Overlander Road, where it eventually grew to 80,000 square feet. As of the first of this year, Detroit Diesel employed 228 people at its Emporia plant, according to RDA president Kent Heermann.
The Emporia Detroit Diesel plant is not the first to be affected by job cuts. Earlier in August, Daimler Trucks announced the phasing out of its Canton, Ohio, parts distribution center. That closing will result in the loss of 190 jobs.
tom66801 (anonymous) says...
Well lets not forget about the 45 employees that already were layed-off prior to this announcement
and all the other employees that work in the office and in
management that got canned yesterday also.
"Detroit Diesel employed 228 people at its Emporia plant, according to RDA president Kent Heermann."
Well as of yesterday 8/19/09 the number was a total
of 178 employees plant wide before the layoffs were announced.
Now after the announced layoff what is the exact number left?
Do they get tax money for the numbers they report?
August 20, 2009 at 3:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
realist (anonymous) says...
The "45" that were laid off in March and April (or May?) were, at the time, temporary lay-offs. Meaning that when the business picked up they would be given the opportunity to come back to work. Unfortunately for those "45" great people and the latest group, of which I am a member, our prospects for any future employment at DDR-C are nothing short of grim.
The worst part about this is the false hope we were given by our management. However, they are not to blame. This was a surprise to all levels of personnel at DDR-C. False hope: Our last two quarters' sales were getting us into the green. We were making money. We were being a successful link in the DTNA chain. "Things are on the up-swing", we were told. DTNA and Freightliner executives, however, did not see it that way. They are taking the remanufacturing business away from the Emporia plant. Our facility has a long running reputation of being by far the strongest reman facility among the three. DDR East: Cambridge, OH, DDR West: Tooele, Utah, and DDR Central, Emporia, KS. We were given the work that the other facilities could not make successful and we made it successful. There are probably a combined 150 years of knowledge and experience leaving as a result of this decision by DTNA. DDRC - Emporia will be left building new 2-cycle diesel engines and components, and remanufactured Mopar 4.0 and Hemi warranty replacement products. Neither of which are profitable; and the 2-cycle diesel is becoming a dying breed, being out-performed by the more powerful and more effecient 4-cycle diesel.
I wish the very best to those who were laid off earlier this year and to my co-workers who will leave with me in the near future. I hope that those workers who will not be affected by this reduction do not take for granted that their jobs are safe now. Many of us speculate a dismal future for the Emporia Detroit Diesel Plant. Detroit Diesel is competition for Freightliner and DTNA. The best way to eliminate competition is to buy them and then dismantle them. Best of luck to all!
August 20, 2009 at 10:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nks (anonymous) says...
realist,
I wish you and all the rest the best of luck.
I am one of the ones that are left for now... Do I feel lucky??? NO... I believe that all we will be doing is biding time until all of our products are eventually consolidated to DDR-E. I do not think we will exist by next Spring. That is a very sad feeling knowing how much of a vital part we have always been to the Reman Coorporation. We carried the Reman system for years. We always made a profit, were given new products and succeded and were always considered the "go-to guys".
I dont think our local management saw this coming either by some of their expressions or their pale appearances in the hallways right before the general meeting.
It is hard to reason why products were shipped to DDR-E. They have a reputation of poor management, losing money, terrible quality et... They have one VERY important quality that we do not have and that is location. A majority of our 2 cycle customers are to the East.
August 21, 2009 at 7:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )