Special Metals Corp., a leading company that produces and supplies high-nickel, high-performance alloys worldwide, has temporarily laid off around 40 hourly workers due to lack of work at its manufacturing plant in Huntington, West Virginia. The company officials said that recall is still possible but it will depend on how busy the plant gets in the next coming months. In July of last year, around nine salaried employees were removed due to the company’s restructuring plan.

Dwight Weber, spokesperson of Precision Castparts Corp., the parent company, explained that Special Metal’s decision is triggered by a lack of work in Huntington. Weber assured that those impacted employees will be assisted accordingly. “The workers will continue to accrue seniority and receive benefits.” As to the upcoming layoffs, Weber noted that the company is still on the look out for more developments in the industry. “We’ll monitor it week to week.”

In 2009, over 91 workers were impacted by two series of lay offs in Special Metals. The company removed over 66 workers and shut down its operations for five days in May 2009. Special Metals is a subsidiary of Precision Castparts Corp., a worldwide manufacturer of complex metal components and products based in Portland, Oregon. In the past two years, the two companies had suffered from decline in demand and revenue losses brought about by the nationwide economic downturn.