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Dec. 9--Battered by the deep recession and global competition, Cessna Aircraft Co. will close its three Columbus plants within six to 24 months.
The decision by the Wichita, Kan.-based airplane manufacturer was announced Tuesday to the remaining 315 local workers. The company employed as many as 600 people here as recently as August 2008.
Cessna is moving the work from Columbus to plants in Independence, Kan., and Mexico, said company spokesman Doug Oliver.
"Once that transition process is complete, the facility there in Columbus will be closed," he said. "No immediate jobs are impacted. It's a lengthy process to transition work out of there."
The Columbus operation assembles various parts -- rudders, aircraft cabins and flight-control surfaces -- that are shipped to other Cessna facilities for assembly of small business jets and general aviation aircraft.
Cessna employed about 600 here in August 2008 as it opened a new $25 million, 100,000-square-foot plant in Muscogee Technology Park. At the time, the company said it planned to add 150 jobs over five years.
Since then, however, it has steadily been laying off workers. There were 100 cuts announced in January, followed by 89 in April and 50 in August.
"Those guys have been in an industry that has just been hammered by this economy, and they've done a lot to try to hang on," said Russ Carreker, chair of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce.
Oliver said Cessna's other facilities are "in the same boat," facing production and job cuts.
In the past year, the manufacturer, a subsidiary of global conglomerate Textron Inc., has slashed 8,000 employees from its 16,000-person work force.
Global competition and the intense impact of the economic downturn have hurt the company and squeezed off the flow of orders for new planes, Oliver said.
"We had originally announced that we would deliver 535 business jets in 2009," he said. "That number is now 275. We'll deliver even fewer airplanes in 2010. We don't anticipate any growth in the business until at least late 2011."
And there's virtually no chance the company will venture back to Columbus, he said.
"Business will come back," he said. "But, no, we're vacating Columbus."
Aside from the Muscogee Technology Park plant, Cessna also has about 225,000 square feet of factory space at two facilities in Columbus East Industrial Park off Macon Road. One plant operates under the name McCauley Propeller Systems. All three plants are expected to be put up for sale.
Oliver said there are no firm details on when employees will be laid off in Columbus.
"I'm sure it will be staggered," he said. "We'll be offering incentives for employees to stay through scheduled departure dates, and there will be severance packages at the end of that, as we have with all of the reductions to date."
Carreker lamented the loss of Cessna, calling the company a great corporate citizen with employees who were always actively involved in the community.
"They really were doing a quality job from what I understand," he said. "The Cessna people bragged incessantly on those folks, and I think they'll provide great employees for NCR and Kia and any of those other companies that are looking."
Kia Motors, which started vehicle assembly last month in nearby West Point, Ga., reopened applications for more jobs last month.
Automated teller machine manufacturer NCR Corp. also recently opened an assembly plant in Columbus, employing 150 initially with plans to ramp that up to 870 within five years.
