The number of employees at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s manufacturing facility in Norwalk will be down to less than 100 employees by October.
Just over a year ago the defense manufacturer announced it would close its Norwalk facility by the end of 2014, due to low utilization levels. At the time of the announcement 315 employees worked at the facility. Today about 200 employees are left, but have been notified of another round of layoffs Sept. 30.
To date layoff rounds have been gradual but are expected to become more frequent, said Jack Martin, a Northrop Grumman spokesman.
Martin said the decision to close the facility was based off an extensive analysis of the company’s plant capacity and utilization rates across the nation. At the time of the study the Norwalk plant was operating at about 50 percent capacity, which Martin said was economically unsustainable. The remaining work from the facility will be redirected to plants in Baltimore and Rolling Meadows, Ill.  The company is headquartered in Virginia.
