SILOAM SPRINGS, AR. - Franklin Electric Co. plans to cut 200 jobs at its Siloam Springs plant by the middle of the 2007, the company said.
The manufacturing plant, which makes submersible motors, now has about 490 workers. Thomas Strupp, chief financial officer for Bluffton, Ind.-based Franklin, said Friday that the company's new plant in Linares, Mexico, makes the same submersible motors.
Franklin announced a realignment plan three years ago when the Linares plant was built. The 200 eliminated jobs likely won't return to Siloam Springs, Strupp said.
"We understand this was a business decision from the corporate offices and there really wasn't anything that local management, or we in the community, could do to save those jobs," said Wayne Mays, president and CEO of the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce. "This has a human cost, and our concern is for the employees who may lose their jobs, and for their families. We want to try do anything we can to help those people find jobs."
Franklin said it planned to encourage early retirement for eligible
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