JLG Industries Inc will start closing two of its newly-acquired OmniQuip facilities in October.

A JLG statement said the company intended to close OmniQuip's 500,000 square foot (46,450 square metres) Port Washington, Wisconsin, headquarters, and a 40,000 square foot (3700 square metres) plant in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, transferring the operations to JLG's Pennsylvania facilities.

The closures are expected to take about 12 months. A 78,000 square foot (7240 square metres) site in Oakes, North Dakota, would remain. The three OmniQuip plants employ 530 people, the company said.

In addition to maintaining the Oakes operation, "we expect to retain the best people, particularly within the engineering and military contract staff", JLG chairman Bill Lasky said.

JLG completed the USD100 million purchase of OmniQuip, which encompasses Trak International and the Sky-Trak and Lull telehandler lines, on August 4. The combined operations reported USD217 million in sales last year in 2002.

JLG sees the addition of Omniquip's telehandler products as a way to reduce its dependency on aerial work platforms.

JLG said it had identified ongoing annual savings of USD27 million while incurring anticipated expenses of USD45 million over a four-year period for telehandler production transfers, personnel reductions, facility closures and other restructuring costs.