Monaco Coach Corp., one of the nation’s largest makers of recreational vehicles, laid off 200 of an estimated 1,200 workers at its plant in the northern Indiana town of Wakarusa late last week. The layoff was prompted by slowing demand, the Coburg, Ore.-based company said. High fuel prices are playing a roll in the slowdown, […]
Carmel-based Woods Industries Inc., which manufactures and imports electrical products, is being closed, according to a notice posted by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The closing will result in displacing 68 workers by April 25, the notice said. Woods was acquired in November by Coleman Cable Inc. of suburban Chicago. Coleman manufactures electrical and […]
Three layoffs were announced yesterday in as many locations in Indiana. Superior Essex Inc. said it will close its wire manufacturing plant in Vincennes as part of a restructuring and shift the work to plants in Tennessee and Mexico, the Vincennes Sun-Commercial reported. By the end of the year, 250 workers will lose their jobs. The […]
Indianapolis-based Steak n Shake Co. Inc. reported a $1.2 million loss in its first fiscal quarter after having shown a $4.2 million profit a year earlier. The loss of 4 cents per share was greater than the 2-cent loss expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Revenue in the period ended Dec. 19 slipped 7.4 […]
Noblesville-based Warner Bodies Inc. said today that it has acquired the fabrication division of Metro Products, an Indianapolis company that makes a variety of products, for $850,000. The 15 workers at Metro have been asked to join Warner, a longtime maker of truck bodies.
Terre Haute is losing shoppers to Plainfield and Evansville, so two developers want to attract more stores to the western Indiana city. To make room for the stores, the Terre Haute-based developers, Thompson Thrift and Gibson Development, want land now occupied by the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds, according to the Tribune-Star. In exchange, the fairgrounds would […]
Shares of Cummins Inc. shot up more than 6 percent late this afternoon after the Columbus, Ind., diesel engine maker announced it would add 500 engineering and other professional positions in the next two years. The stock closed at $45.33, up $2.71 a share, then edged up 13 cents more in after-hours trading. The 500 […]
Columbus diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. announced today it will add 500 jobs near its downtown headquarters in the next two years. The positions will be engineers and other professional employees. They will be located in a 100,000-square-foot building under construction in the Commons Mall redevelopment project. Cummins currently has 5,500 workers in Columbus, plus […]
Freije Treatment Systems Inc. plans to move its headquarters and product development to Mount Comfort Industrial Park east of Indianapolis from the Eagle Creek Park area. The expansion is expected to boost the company’s employment from a dozen to 200 by 2010. Freije, based at 6450 Guion Road, develops and sells salt-free water softeners for […]
Randall and Marianne Tobias have donated $1 million to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to renovate the museum’s 604-seat namesake theater. The newly polished venue will open this fall and IMA plans to screen films and bring in speakers on topics dear to the museum’s new focus on design and the interaction of art and […]
BioCrossroads, the not-for-profit that promotes life sciences in the state, has received a $2.5-million grant from Indianapolis-based Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation Inc. to underwrite a series of health care information projects through 2010. Established in 1986, the Fairbanks Foundation awards grants to Indianapolis not-for-profits that research or deliver projects related to health care, community vitality […]
Harman-Becker Automotive Systems Inc. plans to shut down its operation in Martinsville in phases this year, and close completely by next January, according to The Reporter Times. The first cuts will begin in April. The plant, which makes Infinity, JBL, Harman Kardon speakers and speaker systems, employs about 340. Last year, the company cut about […]
Roche has successfully turned a hostile takeover bid into a friendly one, winning over the board of Ventana Medical Systems Inc. by hiking the price it would pay by 19 percent. Swiss-based Roche, which operates its North American diagnostic division out of Indianapolis, would pay $3.4 billion under a merger agreement signed by the boards […]
A pair of local high-tech heavyweights are scheduled to speak today at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Bob Laikin, CEO of Plainfield-based wireless device distributor Brightpoint Inc., will visit the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Bloomington as a distinguished entrepreneur-in-residence. Laikin will speak at a faculty lunch, then spend the afternoon visiting […]
Emerson Motor Co. has laid off nearly a third of the workers at an electric motor plant in the southern Indiana town of Princeton, the St. Louis company said late last week. Fifty-two of the 170 employees were put on temporary layoff after the market softened, Emerson said. The plant makes motors for hospital beds […]
Board members of Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin are willing to work with outside parties but have no plans to sell or merge the facility, the Daily Journal of Franklin reported today. In a statement, the board of the 149-bed, county-owned hospital asked Johnson County residents for patience as it evaluates its short- and long-term […]
If General Electric Co. follows through on its plan to close its Bloomington refrigerator plant, local not-for-profits are likely to feel pain. Employees at the sprawling facility donated $54,000 and the company gave $21,500 last year to the Monroe County United Way. That made GE the second-largest work place contributor, according to The Herald-Times of […]
Civic boosters in Delphi fear the town northeast of Lafayette will become just another bedroom community, so they’re fighting back. They want the town, population 2,977, to become more of a destination for shoppers and tourists, according to the Journal & Courier of Lafayette. Once a commercial hub on the Wabash and Erie Canal, Delphi […]
Small businesses in the Muncie area are struggling to compete for employees against IBM and Sallie Mae now that the giants have opened locations in the region. Sallie Mae has hired 70 workers since opening a call center in Muncie in late 2006, and an IBM customer service center in Daleville has hired about 200 […]
While the rest of the state struggles to hold its own through the national housing downturn, the Columbus area is thriving. Bartholomew County, where Columbus is the seat, saw the median house price rise 8.7 percent, to $139,000, in the third quarter, according to The Republic, the city’s daily newspaper. Nationally, the median price fell […]
