Vektek, an Emporia maker of precision hydraulic and pneumatic workholding devices, laid off some of its employees Wednesday because of the economic downturn.
Mindy Heller-Pendlay, the company’s human resources manager, confirmed this morning that the layoffs had been made.
“We did have a layoff on Wednesday,” she said, then referred to a statement from the company, which confirmed the downturn as the reason and said:
“Vektek currently serves customers worldwide in the automotive, heavy truck, agriculture, military and aerospace industries.
“Vektek had attempted other cost-cutting measures before reducing its work force. The layoff decision was made in order to retain a balanced work force that could continue to meet Vektek’s current production needs .... The company hopes to bring the positions back as economic conditions improve.”
The statement quoted Troy Estes, Vektek president, as saying:
“These types of decisions are always difficult, because we value all of our employees. We are optimistic even with our current market conditions that Vektek can have a bright future by adding focus on many of the new market segments that are looking to expand their manufacturing capabilities. Worldwide, the need to manufacture components for renewable energy sources should bring along opportunity for Vektek products.”
The company would not say how many employees were laid off Wednesday and said it would have no further statements on the layoffs.