May 8--Jackson County residents are again feeling the impact of financial troubles confronting the nation's automakers.

Cummins Inc. said Thursday it will lay off about 50 workers at its Cummins Industrial Center in Seymour and temporarily close its Columbus MidRange Engine Plant at Walesboro, idling about 610 hourly workers.

Layoffs at CIC will be effective June 1, Mark Land of Cummins' information office said.

Third-shift workers at Walesboro were notified at 5:30 a.m. Thursday that layoffs were coming. Others were notified later in the day, Land said.

The Walesboro shutdown affects about 690 workers and is a result of Chrysler stopping production of its Dodge Ram pickup.

Cummins will lay off about 610 hourly employees -- 560 members of the Diesel Workers Union and 50 members of the Office Committee Union.

The company plans to redeploy as many of the 80 exempt employees in the plant as possible throughout its southern Indiana operations.

Jim Plump of Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. said Thursday afternoon he's recently spoken with other area firms that supply automakers about the continuing woes faced by Chrysler and General Motors.

"Some have said they will have some impact from Chrysler and are continuing to monitor what's happening with GM," Plump said. "I think a lot of people don't realize it, but what happens to Chrysler and GM is really going to affect some of our companies."

However, Plump optimistically cautioned he's not aware of any of those firms planning more layoffs, although they are looking at a decrease in future orders.

"They are also hopeful that with some of the economic numbers improving that they'll be able to take up some of the slack with other customers," Plump added.

Bill Bailey of the Greater Seymour Chamber of Commerce agreed.

"We feel the downturn sort of the same way as a Kokomo or an Anderson, which are more tightly tied to the auto industry," Bailey said. "We are fortunate that our economy is somewhat diversified with Schwarz Pharma, Silgan and others doing well right now, but we are not fully insulated from feeling the auto industry downturn."

Closing the Walesboro plant is a result of Chrysler's decision last week to idle its manufacturing operations while it undergoes bankruptcy reorganization, Cummins said.

CMEP is the sole manufacturing site for the 6.7-liter turbo diesel engine used in the heavy-duty Dodge Ram pickup. The plant will close effective May 15 and remain down until Chrysler resumes pickup production, Land said.

Chrysler's Dodge Ram manufacturing plant in Saltillo, Mexico, closed Monday.