"Our mantra is balancing demand with supply," company spokesman Steve Fleming said this morning in a telephone interview.
The engine maker gave nearly 2,000 hourly workers the week off, without pay. Fleming says salaried employees and those working on propellers are still on the job. The company has a total of about 3,200 employees in Fond du Lac.
Last week's shutdown comes after 48 employees volunteered to take temporary layoffs starting Feb. 18. Those workers will get their jobs back in June. Fleming said more work shutdowns and temporary layoffs may be necessary later in the year, depending on the market conditions.
"We anticipate 2008 to be a challenging year for the U.S. boating industry," he said. "We're going to continue to monitor the situation and if the situation calls for us to have additional layoffs, we could."
