Eaton Corp. notified state officials that it expects to lay off 83 employees at its Pewaukee facility beginning on Oct. 30. This will be the Cleveland-based diversified power management company’s third round of layoffs since 2013, resulting in more than 300 jobs lost.
The newly announced eliminations are due to the company’s permanent discontinuation of its molded rubber products line at its Pewaukee Cooper Power Systems Division facility located at 1045 Hickory St. The layoffs are anticipated to continue in phases until Dec. 31.
Eaton also laid off employees at the Pewaukee facility in 2013. It told the state that 130 hourly production employees and 33 salaried employees would be eliminated as it outsourced production to Mexico.
Molded rubber production work was moved to a new facility in Queretaro, Mexico, in 2014, and full production is expected to be up and running by the end of the fourth quarter of 2015.
The Pewaukee facility is not Eaton’s only location to see a reduction.
Eaton informed the state in April of this year that 93 positions at its Watertown location would be cut between June 30 and Dec. 31. Those layoffs are due to the permanent discontinuation of the printed circuit boards product line at the Watertown facility located at 901 S. 12th St.
Eaton, founded in 1911, makes power distribution, power quality, control and automation, power monitoring and energy management products. In 2012, it acquired Dublin, Ireland-based Cooper Industries, the parent company of Cooper Power Systems in Waukesha.
Cooper, a leading electrical equipment supplier founded in 1833, focuses on energy efficiency for a global customer base.
It was announced in 2014 that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation would provide Eaton up to $1.36 million in tax credits for the company’s $54 million investment in its Waukesha-based Cooper Power Systems business. The project was said to create as many as 200 jobs in the region over the next two years.
Eaton representatives could not be reached for comment on the layoffs or the status of the tax credits.
