Caterpillar closing plant in Franklin; laying off 80

Caterpillar plans to close its plant in Franklin and lay off 80 employees.

The layoffs were disclosed last week in a notice the company sent to the state Department of Commerce.

Caterpillar’s Precision Seals plant in Franklin, about 70 miles southwest of Asheville, now has about 122 full-time employees. The layoffs are expected to begin Jan. 1.

In September, Caterpillar announced another round of job cuts that could exceed 10,000 people through 2018. The company has been hurt by a slump in commodity prices, which has reduced demand for its construction and mining equipment.

The company said that it would cut as many as 5,000 people mostly by the end of this year from its salaried and management workforce. It then could cut thousands more, raising the total above 10,000, as it figures out which factories and manufacturing sites to close through 2018.

Caterpillar employs several thousand workers in North Carolina at a half-dozen locations, including sites in Clayton, Sanford and Winston-Salem.

The Associated Press contributed.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Caterpillar closing plant in Franklin; laying off 80."