TOWN OF ONALASKA -- ATK Ammunition announced plans Wednesday to close its sporting goods plant on Brice Prairie, eliminating 130 local jobs.
The announcement came less than a year after the company added workers, bringing back a product line that had been made overseas.
The plant, which has operated since the 1960s, makes such things as gun cleaning products, scope mounts, targets and replacement gun stocks.
The closure was part of a strategic move to consolidate operations and meet long-term growth, said Jason Nash, director of communications for the parent company, ATK Sporting Group.
ATK also announced it will scale back operations at its plant in Fenton, Mo.
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"This action was not a result of outside business forces," Nash said. "It's setting ourselves up best for future growth."
Most operations will end in the next two months, and Nash said ATK is working with the state to provide support for displaced workers.
Nash said employees would be welcome to apply for jobs at other plant locations. The Onalaska plant was the company's only Wisconsin operation. The nearest plant is in Anoka, Minn., where the company is based.
ATK in May announced it had added six jobs at the plant to operate new computer-controlled machining equipment to make steel rings for a product line that had been made overseas since 2000.
Company representatives at the time called the machines "a major investment" and said sales had increased "substantially."
The company issued a statement Wednesday reading in part, "We're proud to have operated in Onalaska and are grateful for the support we received from the community over the years."
ATK acquired the Outers manufacturing plant on Brice Prairie in December 2001, when Blount International Inc.'s sporting equipment group was purchased by ATK. Blount, based in Montgomery, Ala., had owned Outers since 1985.
Vern Dale founded Outers Laboratories in 1933 to make gun cleaning brushes for the military; the plant has been at its current site since the mid-1960s.
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