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Truck trailer manufacturer Wabash National Corp. announced today that it will lay off 800 employees at its Lafayette plant with the intent of calling them back to work in the second quarter. The layoff begins Dec. 22.
Other workers will have an extended holiday shutdown lasting from Dec. 22 to Jan. 6. Lafayette-based Wabash didn’t say how many workers the holiday shutdown would affect.
CEO Dick Giromini characterized the economy as one of the most difficult the company has navigated, saying the layoffs were needed to bring production in line with demand. Most orders for 2008 delivery are finished, and the first quarter typically is slow, he warned.
Wabash National isn’t the only trailer maker with an Indiana presence to scale back operations in recent months.
Great Dane Trailers Inc., headquartered in Savannah, Ga., has curtailed production at its Terre Haute plant but closed a Georgia plant and shifted production to a second facility the company operates in the western Indiana town of Brazil.
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