Trane Announces 200 Fort Smith Layoffs Today Staff Writer
10:52 AM CST, February 19, 2010 Trane Announces 200 Fort Smith Layoffs Today Related links
* More than 200 Jobs Leaving Fort Smith
More than 200 employees of the Trane Residential Solutions plant in Fort Smith have officially been laid off.
Last month, Ingersoll Rand, Trane's parent company, proposed a plan to transfer a portion of production to a Trane plant in Lynn Haven, FL. Now that proposal is their 'game plan.'
The company made its official decision today. About 197 hourly production jobs and 15 salaried jobs will be cut by the end of the year. Ingersoll Rand, expects 77 of those jobs will be eliminated by the end of the first quarter, and the remaining 120 jobs will be cut by the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Ingersoll Rand says the decision to move production "will reduce costs, provide better utilization of our available capacity, establish dual sourcing of our residential packaged product, and improve our ability to serve our East Coast customers."
"The actual number of employees affected could change depending on fluctuations in production levels, attrition and other factors," according to a statement released by the company.
The Ft. Smith Residential Solutions plant currently employs approximately 45 employees. The plant manufactures residential and light commercial air conditioning products that are used in homes, fast food restaurants and strip malls.
The company's other facility in Ft. Smith, custom air handling manufacturing plant, is part of Trane's commercial operation and is not affected by this decision.
