Briggs & Stratton moving jobs to Wisconsin

According to a company press release, Briggs & Stratton will close its McDonough, Ga., plant and shift the jobs to Wisconsin and New York. About 475 employees will be laid off in Georgia, but the company’s Wauwatosa headquarters will add about 220 full-time and 150 seasonal workers. Staff numbers in New York should remain the same.

In a cost-cutting move, the maker of outdoor power equipment engines said it will trim its offerings in the lower-priced Snapper equipment line and shift production of lawn tractors, pressure washers, and snow throwers to Wauwatosa and its zero-turn lawnmowers to New York.

The restructuring costs will be between $30 million and $37 million.