John Crane to cut 90 people at Illinois site

VANDALIA, Ill. (Nov. 13)—John Crane Inc. will terminate about 90 employees at its Vandalia rubber seal plant over the next five months, due primarily to the sale of its parent company's precision seal business. The Morton Grove, Ill.-based company notified the state of Illinois early last month the job cuts were coming, and the firm began letting people go Nov. 7. The cuts are slated to continue through March 31 of next year, the company said. The reduction will lower employment at the site to about 180 from 269, John Crane said. Before last month, the plant operated under Polymer Sealing Solutions, the precision seal division of Smiths Group P.L.C., a United Kingdom-based conglomerate, which bought John Crane in 2000. Smiths announced it was selling PSS to the Swedish industrial firm Trelleborg Group in July, and the two companies completed the transaction Oct. 1.