Fargo, ND – John Deere and Company and Woods Equipment Company announced today they are discontinuing Alloway industries--a joint manufacturing operation in Fargo.
Ken Golden--manager and public relations person for Deere and Company--says this announcement continues a series of actions Deere has taken in other locations and divisions which are all focused on making the business as good as the products.
"Our products are considered to be great products. But out business needs to be strengthened in the sense of how well do we do as a business financially for our shareholders. So, we're looking very closely at those operations that add to cost but don't necessarily add to profitability. Unfortunately, in this situation, Alloway is among those."
The closing of Alloway Industries affects 80 full-time employees--all of whom will be eligible for a comprehensive severance package. Golden says the Alloway brand name will continue to exist for Woods Equipment because they sell products under the Alloway brand name. But--he says Deere and
Company is looking at other things.
"We have had a series of announcements of consolidating operations in a variety of divisions. For instance, in Tennessee we a plant and moved operations to our existing Iowa plant. We also moved some operations in our forestry division out of Alabama to our plant in Canada. And so, what you're looking at is an organization that's keenly interested in finding production efficiencies."
Alloway industries will cease production by July 31st. The building will be marketed because neither Deere nor Woods want to continue operation there.