GE Lighting Finalizes Plans To Close Mattoon Plant Next Summer
An old General Electric neon sign, outside an appliance store in Willacoochee, Georgia. Jud McCranie / Wikimedia Commons
General Electric Lighting says its plant in Mattoon will close in August 2017.
The company said this summer that it planned to close the plant next year unless its employees could come up with an acceptable alternative for the facility.
According to WAND-TV in Decatur, the company said in a statement Wednesday that the drop in demand for traditional lighting means the plant is now operating at 40 percent of its capacity.
Local officials have said the plant has been open more than 70 years and employs about 140 people.
Mattoon is about 50 miles south of Champaign.