Wausaukee Composites Lays Off 61 from Cuba City Plant

THonline

01/30/2009   13:06

Wausaukee Composites, located in Cuba City, WI has shuttered their facility except for a skeleton office staff. David Lisle, president and CEO of Wausaukee Composites, announced the layoffs of 61 employees to the staff. He insists, though, that the closing is temporary and that the facility will be re-opened at some time in the future.

The Cuba City plant specialized in manufacturing fiberglass parts for wind turbines. The plant has been in operation since February 2008. The company said that the closing was the result of their primary customer canceling all orders effective immediately.

"Their customer has discontinued its order for wind farm development pending new financing," Lisle said. "The broad-based wind industry in North America is on stand-down due to a lack of funds. Until bank funds start to flow again, we don't anticipate any renewed orders."

Our Take

It is interesting that this has occurred in a segment of the economy that we are all told is growing. Many of the projects proposed in the federal "stimulus package" are directly related to alternative energy such as wind power that the plant manufactured parts for.