The majority of the 42 Arctic Cat Inc. employees who lost their jobs on Wednesday worked at the company's Thief River Falls snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle manufacturing plant.
Arctic Cat eliminated 60 positions in Minnesota on Wednesday, but 18 employees were moved into other positions at the company.
The staff reductions were announced Thursday as the Plymouth, Minn.-based company announced a $16.7 million loss in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2009 that ended in March. In January, Arctic Cat cut about 100 jobs, most of them at its Thief River Falls facility that until recently also served as the company's corporate headquarters.
Arctic Cat's sales dropped nearly in half in the fourth quarter.
The severe drop in orders has also led to changes in the company's production schedule. The company's production of snowmobiles, which are generally manufactured between April and Thanksgiving each year, will end earlier this year, according to John Tranby, Arctic Cat's marketing manager. Tranby said the company will continue to manufacture ATVs year round, but will produce less machines.
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Tranby said despite the recent layoffs in Thief River Falls that the company remains committed to maintaining a manufacturing facility in Thief River Falls where the company was founded.
