Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. will lay off 98 employees from its Sturtevant facility during the first quarter of 2009, the company announced last week. BRP makes Evinrude outboard motors larger than 40 horsepower at its Sturtevant plant, and will still have about 375 employees there after the downsizing.
About 38 of the laid off BRP employees will be in its office area, from its managerial, professional and support staff, said Michael Willmering, vice president of human resources in Sturtevant. The remaining 60 workers are from its production area.
“This was extremely difficult for the company,” he said. “The management team is taking every one of these unfortunate reductions very personally. Given the time of year, it’s very hard to do this.”
The layoffs are part of larger cuts at BRP, which include the elimination of 550 white collar jobs. The company previously laid off 370 production workers and the Sturtevant production workers were part of another 430 employee layoff for the first quarter of 2009.
The BRP layoffs are just the latest amongst manufacturing layoffs in southeastern Wisconsin, which include the following since Nov. 1:
- Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. will eliminate 10 percent of its workforce, or 800 jobs.
- St. Louis, Mo.-based Viasystems Group Inc. announced plans to close its Oak Creek plant, eliminating 238 jobs.
- Kohler Co. has eliminated more than 200 jobs.
- Mequon-based Charter Manufacturing Corp. will eliminate 155 jobs and close its processing plants in Fond du Lac and in Detroit, Mich.
- ACCO Brands Corp. will close its Pleasant Prairie plant, eliminating 150 jobs.
- CNH Capital in Racine recently eliminated 115 jobs.
- Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. will close its plant in Pleasant Prairie, eliminating 110 jobs.
- Johnson Outdoors in Racine announced it will cut 90 jobs.
- Rexnord Industries LLC, the Milwaukee-based parent corporation of Falk Corp., eliminated 60 jobs.
- InSinkErator in Racine will eliminate 50 jobs.
- Serigraph Inc. in West Bend will eliminate 50 jobs.
- Port Washington-based Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corp. eliminated 40 jobs.
