Jobs Cut By Nordam Group

By Latoya Silmon, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The economy in crisis hits a Tulsa company hard and now dozens of Tulsans are out of a job.  The Nordam Group on Tuesday laid off 61 of its employees.

Nordam's CEO says the cuts are a last resort.  He says the aerospace industry isn't flying as high it used to, and the company had to do what was necessary to stay afloat.  It's in the repair business, but Nordam is no match for the ailing economy.

"All the things you report on are affecting the market and Nordam like other companies is bearing the brunt of some of those downturns," said Nordam CEO Ken Lackey.

The company says it had to lay-off about 61 of the 2,100 people who work at Nordam.  That's about 3% of the workforce.  The job losses range from hourly to salary employees and even a vice president was let go.

"It's extremely difficult time for us.  Nordam is a family oriented company and it's something we take very, very seriously," said Nordam CEO Ken Lackey.

But, with the airline industry grounding many of its planes, Nordam is seeing fewer contracts.

"They're taking planes out of service and the planes they're taking out of service are the older airplanes.  The planes we typically provide maintenance for.  So, that's created a slow down for work in this division," said Nordam CEO Ken Lackey.

And, the company's manufacturing division also taking a beating.

"Other divisions where we do manufacturing.  Business jets that market has certainly been in effect by the drop in the stock market.  The availability of credit in any number of things we've seen many of our customers cut back their order," said Nordam CEO Ken Lackey.

Nordam CEO Ken Lackey says the company cut back on expenses, but it wasn't enough.

"Anytime we do lay-offs that is the absolute positively the last resort," said Nordam CEO Ken Lackey.

Lackey says Nordam had to rebound after 9-11 and he's positive the company can survive this, too.  He says Nordam is launching new products this fall and that could mean hiring more people.

Nordam's headquarters is located in Tulsa, but has facilities in Wichita, Kansas, Singapore and the United Kingdom.