WESTFIELD – The ATK Sporting Group announced over the weekend that it will cut 95 jobs at the Savage Arms plant located at 100 Springdale Road to adjust the current consumer demand for its hunting rifles and shotguns.
The labor force adjustment is the second this year. The company cut 37 jobs in April.
City Advancement Officer Joe Mitchell said the firm had created 292 new manufacturing jobs in response to an upsurge earlier this year in consumer demand for Savage Arms products. The company is best known for its bolt-action rifles.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said city officials are trying to get further information about this latest work force reduction.
“They had ballooned up to 400 (manufacturing) jobs, so a 150 employee drop is significant,” Knapik said this morning. “We’re trying to find out how many of those cut will be due to attrition and retirements.”
Calls to the Springdale Road facility this morning were referred to ATK spokesman Tim Brandt who was not available for comment at press time.
Other local media outlets reported that ATK Sporting Group president, Jay Tibbets, said in a statement released this weekend that Savage Arms is “known for their quality, reliability and affordability and our success is driven by our manufacturing employees, which makes this decision that much more difficult.
“Calendar year 2014 represented the industry’s single largest growth year in history, largely driven by consumer surge buying,” Tibbets said. “We responded to that demand by increasing production capacity and expanding our workforce.”
“Unfortunately, we must now right size our operations to remain efficient and competitive as consumer demand retracts and the market normalizes. We appreciate the continued support, professionalism and commitment to quality and safety that is vital to the success of the Savage Arms brand.”
The company was founded in 1894 in Utica, New York and moved to Westfield after it was later purchased by Stevens Arms of Chicopee.
