Kubota suspended manufacturing at its two Georgia plants Tuesday, sending 2,700 workers home after three employees tested positive for COVID-19.
The Japanese company’s shuttered plants are in Gainesville and Jefferson.
Kubota plans to restart operations April 13, and employees will get paid and receive benefits through the furlough, the company said in an emailed statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Suspension of production will allow the company to evaluate the business environment, disinfect facilities and let employees participate in social distancing to avoid further spread of the coronavirus, it added.
Kubota makes tractors and utility vehicles in its two Georgia locations. It came to Gainesville in 1988 and Jefferson later. Last summer, it committed more than $80 million to building an engineering facility at the Gainesville location.
The effects of the coronavirus are pummeling the economy, with tens of thousands of Georgians furloughed or laid off. The state Department of Labor reported Thursday that it processed a record 133,820 claims for unemployment benefits in the last week alone.
Many of the job losses are in service industries, including restaurants and stores. But several manufacturers in Georgia also have temporarily shuttered operations in recent weeks, including Kia Motors in West Point and Yamaha Motor in Newnan.
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