Kenworth Truck Company to Layoff 95

The odds are good that you are probably not familiar with the Kenworth Truck Co. For those of you who are not here is a look at how the company describes itself:

“Kenworth Truck Company is the manufacturer of The World’s Best® heavy and medium duty trucks. Kenworth is an industry leader in providing fuel-saving technology solutions that help increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. The company’s dedication to the green fleet includes aerodynamic trucks, medium duty diesel-electric hybrids, liquefied natural gas trucks, and the Kenworth Clean Power® no…-idle system. In addition, Kenworth is the recipient of the 2008 J.D. Power and Associates awards for Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Over the Road and Vocational Segment Class 8 trucks.”

The company, despite its awards, is getting ready to get rid of workers. The company will be laying off workers from its facility in Chillicothe, Ohio. The job cuts are attributed to a decrease in the demand for the trucks that the company makes. For the time being the company will not give actual layoff numbers in terms of total jobs to be lost. All they will say is that they are cutting their positions at the facility by about 10 percent. These job cuts are to accommodate about a 30 percent drop in demand that the company has experienced for the style of truck that is made at that facility.

The layoffs are understandable, but not part of the expected trend in American manufacturing jobs for this year. For those of you who missed out on our earlier coverage here is a summary that will get you up to date in no time at all:

“t looks like the economic outlook for 2012 may be better than the last couple of years have been. Some of the good news that was released in the last couple of weeks includes: A lower number of people were seeking unemployment benefits. According to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday, the numbers are near the lowest in the last four years, with only 352,000 applications. A drop in the  four-week average, of numbers of people seeking unemployment insurance. The amount of manufacturing jobs in the Northeast have gone up significantly, according to survey’s that have been put out by the Federal Reserve banks of New York and Philadelphia. This is part of a larger, but less pronounced change all over the nation in December of this year. The recent rapid rise in inflation seems to have peaked, at least for the time being.”

Kenworth Tuck Company is owned by PACCAR. The Parent company is described as follows:

“PACCAR is a global technology leader in the design, manufacture and customer support of premium light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The company designs and manufactures advanced diesel engines and also provides customized financial services, information technology and truck parts related to its principal business….

PACCAR is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, USA. The company and its employees’ charitable contributions demonstrate a strong commitment to the communities in which we work and live. The PACCAR Foundation grants millions of dollars each year for health care, higher education and the arts.”