Otis Elevator expected to close plant with 200 workers

Bloomington city officials say it appears an Otis Elevator Co. plant with about 200 workers will be closing next year.

The Farmington, Conn.-based company hasn't yet made an announcement about its Bloomington site, but Mayor Mark Kruzan said indications are it will be shut down by late 2012.

Otis announced Friday that it had selected Florence, S.C., as the location for a new 423,000-square-foot manufacturing center with 360 workers to build its new designs starting next year.

Bloomington Economic Development Corp. president Ron Walker told The Herald-Times that his office tried to talk with Otis management about the new facility, but wasn't given a chance to make a bid for it.

Otis had nearly 1,200 Bloomington workers in 1989, but has since shifted much of its elevator assembly work to China and Mexico.

Otis, a division of Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp., is the largest elevator manufacturer in the world. More than 80 percent of its nearly $12 billion in annual revenue is generated outside the United States.