Budget cuts force layoffs at Waterboro company
Howe and Howe Technologies, the Waterboro-based company known for making robotic and “extreme” vehicles capable of traversing rugged terrain, has had to lay off dozens of its employees due to the ongoing effects of mandated federal budget cuts.
Mike Howe, the company’s president, told the Bangor Daily News that military contracts have dried up due to sequestration, forcing the layoffs of all but a handful of the 40 to 50 workers who worked at the company he and his brother co-founded in 2001.
Howe said the company is renewing its diversification efforts to replace the lost military contracts. Its new non-military products include an off-road vehicle for people in wheelchairs, a 4×4 fire truck designed to fight hard-to-reach brush fires and a robotic firefighting and emergency response vehicle that is proving to be in strong demand worldwide following the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in Japan.
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