Kobelco Plant to Suspend Production in May

March 9, 2021

Excavator producer Kobelco announced they’ll be halting production at their plant in Moore starting in May, impacting more than 100 employees, according to WSPA News. According to the report, Kobelco will be halting production as they wait for the environmental protection agency to approve the engines that go into the hydraulic excavators they make. 

The production suspension will start on May 1 and will impact a chunk of their employees. 

“Kobelco has about 160 associates, and they will lay off probably 75 to 80 percent of them if this approve doesn’t go through,” according to Spartanburg County Councilman David Britt.

According to Britt, if Kobelco can’t get the approval they need within the next couple of months, the county will host job fairs for their associates. 

Two more of Kobelco’s plants faced a similar issue last year—one in West Virginia and the other in Canada—when the company announced their production would be paused until September of this year.