Wabash National Corp has temporarily laid off 480 hourly associates and an undetermined number of salaried employees — nearly 20% of its Lafayette IN workforce.
The company now has about 2,000 full-time associates, at least 1,000 fewer than a year ago. At one time during the 1990s, Wabash had a workforce of 5,000.
One of the industry's dominant trailer makers, Wabash manufactured 35,000 trailers in 2001 — 25% of the overall market but just over half of the 69,772 units it produced in 2000.
Though Wabash hasn't announced its fourth-quarter or full-year financial report for 2001, revenue was off 34% to $696.7 million through the first nine months of the year. Losses were $98.6 million in that same period, compared with net income of $20.2 million the previous year.
Last year also included the elimination of 100 jobs at a hardwood flooring plant in Sheridan AR and 100 jobs at a parts distribution warehouse in Chicago IL; closure of retail distribution sites in Little Rock AR, Tampa FL, and Fresno CA; and elimination of 400 jobs in Lafayette and 1,000 jobs with the closures of a parts distribution facility in Montebello CA and trailer assembly plants in Fort Madison IA and Huntsville TN.