Slow Sales Lead to More Layoffs for Manitowoc Cranes

October 25, 2016 - Manitowoc Cranes laid off an unspecified number of employees at its Shade Grove, Pa., facility this week. According to the Chambersburg Public Opinion, employees at the plant confirmed the layoffs, but company officials had not responded to calls or emails.

Last week, Manitowoc said that it would hasten the relocation of its crawler crane manufacturing operations from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania after orders and backlog declined double digits during the third quarter of 2016. The trend has continued into the fourth quarter. 

"Subsequently, we’ve significantly reduced our production build schedules for mobile products to reflect these lower incoming order rates," Barry Pennypacker, president and CEO, in a press release. "In addition, we are accelerating the relocation of the Manitowoc crawler production to Shady Grove, taking additional headcount reductions, reducing other non-employee costs, and temporarily shutting-down certain mobile production lines during the fourth quarter. While this will negatively affect gross profits for the balance of the year, we believe it will put us in a better position to manage cash flow in the current environment."

For the third-quarter 2016, net sales are expected to be approximately $350 million versus $438 million in the third-quarter 2015.