Arctic Cat plant news

Snowmobile and ATV manufacturer Arctic Cat has reached an agreement to sell its plant in Madison, S.D., cutting 89 positions.

The Madison plant performs painting, welding and subassembly work. The company’s main pant in Thief River Falls, Minn. will take over those responsibilities.

“We decided to sell our Madison facility and consolidate those operations with our core manufacturing in Thief River Falls,” says Arctic Cat chairman and CEO Christopher A. Twomey. “We believe this decision makes good business sense, and is in keeping with our strong commitment to enhance operational efficiency.”

More than 1,500 people are employed at Thief River Falls and Arctic Cat plans to hire 50 to 60 new employees to handle the additional work.

Arctic Cat plans to close the Madison plant by February, 2008. As for the 89 people affected by the closure, the company will offer them opportunities to work in their other plants.

“We recognize that this decision is difficult for our Madison employees, with whom we have developed a great relationship,” says Twomey. “By providing this long notice, we expect that most of these employees will be able to find other employment either in the Madison area, where current employment opportunities seem strong, or at another Arctic Cat facility.”

In the long term, Arctic Cat expects the sale of the Madison facility to save about US$1 million annually in operational costs.

This is not the first cost-cutting measure by Arctic Cat this year. The company eliminated 65 positions from the Thief River Falls plant in February due to what the Twomey called “the realities of the current industry-wide market conditions, particularly for sales of snow-related products.”