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LONGVIEW - Dallas-based industrial conglomerate Trinity Industries Inc. will, lay off 183 employees at its six railcar manufacturing plants in the East Texas city of Longview due to slowing demand for the cars nationwide.
The layoffs are the latest for Trinity (NYSE: TRN), which has gradually reduced the labor force at its rail-related, operations over the past 12 months. The company is one of just a handful of U.S. manufacturers in the cyclical railcar industry.
More layoffs are likely, according to Timothy Wallace, the company's chairman, president and CEO.
Hit hard by the latest downturn in railcar demand, Trinity ended its fiscal year in March with a $74 million loss triggered by an $800 million decline in revenue. About $750 million of the drop - from $2.7 billion in 2000 to $1.9 billion in 2001 - was rail-related, said Wallace.
"It's real hard to make up a revenue loss like that in such a short period of time with a company our size," he said. "The good thing is that in a cyclical industry, over time it cycles back. But it's never as much fun cycling down as it is cycling up."
Trinity will reduce its quarterly production by 15% to 20% starting in its...