Auto body plant in Spring Grove plans to layoff 80 employees this December

(ABC 6 News) – A longtime auto parts company in Spring Grove will see major changes this December.

Northern Engraving notified the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development it would be laying off 80 employees at their Spring Grove plant.

Northern Engraving has been producing auto body parts at this plant for nearly 50 years. But with their main buyer in auto parts discontinuing two cars that require the most parts from their Spring Grove plant, they are deciding not to find new partners.

It came to a surprise to many people in town and they are now pushing to process this potential loss of business and jobs.

Northern Engraving informed the MN DEED office just after 2 p.m. last Friday, telling them they plan to go through with laying off 80 of their employees at the Spring Grove plant sometime between Dec. 6 to 29 this year.

ABC 6 did speak with employees at Northern Engraving’s plant in spring grove about these layoffs. None wanted to speak on camera, but shared their thoughts on the news of their layoffs.

Some say last Friday was a normal day that ended in shock as corporate officials called in during shift change to say that a majority of them would be losing their jobs by December.

And despite some having new jobs lined up, others don’t know where they’ll be going next.

And many people are concerned about the potential impacts these layoffs could have on the Spring Grove community.

That includes Chad Pierce, a former Northern Engravings employee.

“I feel really bad for the people who are losing their jobs. It’s bad, I don’t know, I just feel bad for this community, it’s only 1,400 and 70 people or whatever, and it is going to hurt,” Pierce said.

ABC 6 did reach out to Northern Engraving’s corporate offices in Sparta, Wis. for comment. They did not return our calls in time for this story.