The Plant Manager at Hobart Food Equipment Group in Owen Sound is not concerned about their future.
Some employees have expressed concerns to Bayshore Broadcasting News after we first reported Thursday that 26 hourly workers were laid off.
Plant Manager Duane Koebel lames the layoffs on the fact their sales numbers in December were off by 20 per cent.
But he is not concerned about it.
Koebel says Hobart typically sees cyclical business patterns — with slower periods through the winter that could go as late as March
Koebel says the layoffs could last anywhere from three to thirteen weeks — depending on the level of business over the next few months. Koebel adds Hobart is projecting a two to three per cent increase in volume for their commercial dishwashers in 2013.
And he notes Hobart is attempting to increase its market penetration in the U-S with a new product launch in 2014 that could significantly increase their work.
There are about 150 people working at Hobart’s in Owen Sound.
And many tell us some work has been outsourced to other plants and they are concerned Hobart’s will close.
The City of Owen Sound has already lost hundreds of manufacturing jobs with the recent closures of Goodyear and PPG.
