S & S Cycle cuts 60 workers

S & S Cycle cuts 60 workers

By RYAN STOTTS / La Crosse Tribune

VIOLA, Wis. — The euphoria for S & S Cycle’s 50th anniversary in June has been short-lived.

Company President Brett Smith announced Friday that 60 workers have been cut this month through voluntary separation and layoffs.
“This was a very, very hard decision personally,” Smith said. “People I’ve known for years were impacted.”

He blamed the economic slump for a downturn in sales of the company’s high-performance engine parts and engines for motorcycles.
“In the grand scheme of things, we make a product that people don’t need to have,” he said.

All but two of the cuts were made at the company’s Viola site rather than the La Crosse location, Smith said.
The company Aug. 4 offered voluntary separation packages that 33 employees — mostly in product development and sales and marketing — accepted, Smith said.
They began leaving the company Aug. 8, he said.

Another 27 employees, primarily in production and manufacturing, were laid off by Thursday, Smith said.

Others who remained have been transferred to different areas, such as customer service.

S & S now employs a total of about 195 at both sites, he said.

“We’re doing everything we can to become lean and consolidate our efforts for future long-term employment,” Smith said. “We don’t expect to be in this position forever.”

The company’s core business of bolt-on, high-performance, after-market components still is strong and growing, he said, but S & S had to take a pragmatic approach in an economic environment that’s seeing less disposable income.

“It’s a very unfortunate decision, coming on the heels of our 50th anniversary,” Smith said.

The S & S event, which drew an estimated 28,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to La Crosse in late June, played no role in the cutbacks, Smith said. Despite rumors, the cost of hosting the event was completely covered by sales of the 50 custom motorcycles made for the competition, he said, and the support of the community.

Ryan Stotts can be reached at (608) 791-8446 or ryan.stotts@lee.net.

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