Crown lays off employees

Officials at Crown Equipment Corp. have confirmed reports of layoffs at plants in New Bremen, Celina, New Knoxville and Fort Loramie as a result of declining orders.

Randy Niekamp, vice president of human resources, declined to give specific numbers adding he was not at liberty to do so since such information could be of use to competitors.
When asked whether the layoff was of major proportions, he added any layoff has a major impact on the workers involved. Affected workers were notified this week that Friday would be their last day on the job for the time being.

"We've seen a steady weakening as a result of the global economic downturn," Niekamp told The Daily Standard on Wednesday afternoon. "Our orders have been off significantly the last month or so."

Officials are not sure what the future holds at this point or whether there is a possibility of additional layoffs in the future. They continue to monitor the situation closely, according to Niekamp.

Crown Equipment designs, manufactures, distributes, services and supports material handling products ranging from hand pallet trucks to turreted lift trucks.