Terex eliminates 54 jobs from Waverly location

Terex Cranes eliminated 54 of its 350 positions from its Waverly plant, officials confirmed today.

“Terex regrets the impact of the announced layoff has on our former team-members and their families," said Tom Gelston, vice president of investor relations, in a prepared statement. "Unfortunately, as we scale back to one production shift a day, adjustments (to) the production manpower were needed to realign it with the softened demand environment we are experiencing today with our mobile crane products.”

Terex Cranes manufactures rough terrain cranes, boom trucks and truck cranes. Founded in 1941, by Shield Bantam, the company was purchased by Koehring in 1963. Terex Corp. then purchased the company in 1987.

Brent Matthias, executive director of Waverly Area Economic Development, said the company added a second shift to the manufacturing plant about a year ago, which brought more work. However, the company had to scale back down to one production shift due to a decrease in demand.

"Losing 54 jobs is a big economic loss," he said "We hope to direct those who lost their jobs to other areas in the community like John Deere, where the jobs require similar skill sets."

Terex Corp. announced its quarterly earnings Thursday, saying that revenue for the second quarter was down 5.1 percent on a year-over-year basis. Net sales were about $1.9 billion in the second quarter of 2013 compared with about $2 billion in the second quarter of 2012.