Cummins to lay off at least 150 from Indiana plants

Engine maker Cummins Inc. will lay off at least 150 workers at its southern Indiana factories as part of its plan to cut up to 1,500 jobs worldwide by year's end, a company spokesman said.

The layoffs will affect workers at the company's Fuel Systems Plant in Columbus, the Columbus MidRange Engine Plant or the Seymour Engine plant, Cummins spokesman Jon Mills told The Republic for a story Thursday. Those three factories have about 1,500 workers between them.

The Columbus-based company also plans to transfer about 125 employees to the Columbus MidRange Engine Plant from the other two factories, although Mills said the company hadn't decided whether there would be further Indiana layoffs.

"Determinations are being made," he said. "We need to look at that and go through a thoughtful and careful process."

Cummins announced plans for the worldwide job reductions last week after sales declines in North America, China and Brazil but hasn't announced many details on the cuts.

The company had 46,200 employees worldwide in early September. It has some 7,700 workers in southern Indiana, including the Columbus headquarters and the factories in Columbus and Seymour.

"These actions are difficult and will impact a number of people who have worked for Cummins for many years but are necessary to respond to the current deteriorating global economic conditions," Mills said.

Mark Foster, chief investment officer at Columbus-based Kirr, Marbach & Co., said the job cuts by Cummins were necessary because its engine production has been running higher than demand.

"A gap between production and orders has been evident for the past four or five months, at least," Foster said.