Last Updated Thu, 26 Jan 2006 15:16:37 EST | CBC News
The company that makes John Deere tractors, lawnmowers, and forestry products told 325 workers at its Woodstock, Ontario plant Thursday that the work they've been doing will be moving to Iowa later this year.
Deere & Company said the closing of the Woodstock facility is part of its attempt to "create more efficiency in its business operations." The plant will close in September. John Deere Forestry is one of Woodstock's biggest private employers.
Deere said an internal efficiency study showed that the closure of the Woodstock operation would "improve product delivery times."
The plant makes forestry products for Deere's construction and forestry division – specifically, log skidders, wheeled and tracked feller-bunchers, tracked harvesters, and knuckleboom loaders.
A feller-buncher is a large logging machine that cuts trees. Knuckleboom loaders grab the trees and put them onto trucks.
Production will be consolidated in existing Deere facilities in Davenport and Dubuque, Iowa.
Deere said it would record pretax charges of about $60 million US over the next 12 to 18 months.
