Mercury Marine will lay off approximately 190 employees from its Fond du Lac outboard manufacturing plants during the next six weeks in order to align its workforce with current market demands, the marine engine manufacturer announced in a Thursday, March 20 statement.
The action will involve voluntary and involuntary layoffs, said the company. Affected positions will be posted in the respective facilities.
Twenty employees from Mercury's Plant 17 castings facility were notified Tuesday that Friday will be their last day of work. The remaining scheduled layoffs will be completed by April 17.
Mercury Marine employs about 6,400 people worldwide. Approximately 3,200 of them work at the Fond du Lac site, according to the company.
Demand for outboards declines
Because the demand for outboard engines declined during the first quarter of 2003, Mercury said it is forced to decrease the number of engines being manufactured.
"A continuing uncertain economy and global matters have created a situation where demand is down for outboard engines," said Dennis Rooney, vice president, Mercury Marine human resources. "Faced with such uncertainty, we will continue to operate Mercury in a prudent fashion, with an eye toward the long-term health of the business. This action is not something undertaken lightly, and it is something we wish we could avoid. However, it is essential to better balance production and staffing levels with our customer demands."
Rooney said that while the company plans to continue to monitor economic and global factors to appropriately plan production and staffing levels, it considers the layoffs as permanent until market conditions improve.
All affected positions fall under the production departments in Fond du Lac. However, Rooney said staffing levels at other locations are under review.
Mercury Marine is a division of Brunswick Corp., headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois.