Crown Equipment Corp, one the largest forklift manufacturers in the US, has laid off a "significant" number of manufacturing employees, according to a report in the Dayton Daily News.

Attributing the lay-offs to a general slump in demand for the forklifts, the paper was unable to ascertain the exact number of workers retrenched.

Randy Niekamp, Crown's vice president for human resources, is quoted as withholding that number "to keep that information from competitors".

According to the report, the workers were informed on November 2 that they would be let go and their last day on the job was a week later. The plan, according to Niekamp, is to recall some or all of them if the demand improves from its recent slump.

Crown did not see the lay-offs as significant enough to warrant notifying state authorities under the federal Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification Act, according to the News. Those requirements are intended to force employers to provide 60 days advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs and apply when at least 500 employees or a third of any work force is retrenched.

The Crown official is quoted as saying the affected Crown manufacturing employees worked in New Bremen, New Knoxville, Celina and Fort Loramie.

Crown's sales and services around the United States have not been affected by the cuts, the report concludes.