According to a company official, JLG Industries Inc. is planning to consolidate its tele-handler production in Pennsylvania, after it closes a plant in Orrville, Ohio by the end of the year.

Due to the change up to 279 manufacturing employees in Ohio will be affected and may join for assembly-line jobs in Bedford, Shippensburg and McConnellsburg, said marketing director of the company Jennifer Stiansen that is a subsidiary of Oshkosh Corp.

"We had capacity at our existing facilities, so it made sense to consolidate our manufacturing," she said.

The company is also planning to close its manufacturing, pre-deliver inspection and engineering facilities in Belgium and the United Kingdom.

A total of 525 employees employed by the access-equipment manufacturer will be affected across the globe.

It was too soon to determine how the manufacturing positions might divide among the plants in Bedford, Cumberland and Fulton counties by September 30, said Stiansen.

She said everything depends where the manufacturing lines are.

Stiansen said a smaller engineering facility in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, likely will not receive additional positions.

President L. Michael Ross of the Franklin County Area Development Corp, described about a new welding training center in the Cumberland Valley Business Park as one tool to prepare the region's workforce for manufacturing jobs.

He said the Franklin County Career and Technology Center the workforce investment board and community colleges also are marketing programs.

Ross said that there will be a strong need for workers with a middle-class income level with greater opportunities to grow.

The Franklin County unemployment rate is less than 5 percent; the workforce development is the challenge that will affect the ability to accommodate additional economic growth.

Ross said that they are working hand and glove with the JLG folks to work on the issue.

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