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A major local manufacturer is closing its North Side plant, eliminating about 140 jobs.

Hart & Cooley Inc., which makes parts for air conditioning and heating systems, laid off about 40 workers a year ago, blaming the housing slowdown.

Now it has given notice with a state agency that it will lay off its remaining employees through September.

New homes account for much of the company's business, said Randall Kirby, director of corporate human resources for Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Hart & Cooley. The Tucson plant, at 2620 N. Flowing Wells Road, is the company's smallest and was the first on the chopping block after the slowdown in home building intensified, Kirby said.

"As the need for product declined, obviously the manufacturing of that product slows down as well," he said.

Some of Hart & Cooley's jobs cut in Tucson will be moved to the company's facilities in Mexicali, Mexico, and Huntsville, Ala., Kirby said. The company also plans to outsource some production to China, he said.

Last year, Hart & Cooley was the eighth-largest manufacturing employer in Southern Arizona, according to the Star 200 survey of major employers. In 2005, the company expanded the Tucson plant, near West Grant Road and Interstate 10.

The number of manufacturing layoffs announced by employers in Tucson this year already totals about 700, according to Arizona Department of Economic Security data. That's more than half of the net gain of 1,300 manufacturing jobs made locally in 2007, according to state Department of Commerce data.

It is fairly easy for laid-off workers to find new jobs in the local manufacturing sector, said Jim Mize, manager of employer outreach at the Pima County One Stop Career Centers, the local job bank. That's because their skills are always needed here, he said.

"In many cases, these people are bringing skills to the table that many companies are looking for," Mize said. "We still have companies hiring."

Manufacturing for medical, scientific and military purposes is still growing, said Bob Horn, vice president of marketing for Anewco Products Inc.

Horn's company, a contract manufacturer that makes a variety of products, is flourishing, he said. The company, which employs 95, recently expanded by buying another company, Tucson Spraying Technologies Inc..

Hart & Cooley "suffered just a very serious blow from the fact that housing construction and building construction in general has taken a very strong hit," he said. "There are other industries that are looking to expand."

Mass layoffs reported in 2008 to the Arizona Department of Economic Security add up to about 700 jobs in Tucson's manufacturing industry. The industry had a net gain of 1,300 jobs in 2007, according to state Department of Commerce statistics.

Texas Instruments 300 jobs

Hart & Cooley 140 jobs

Unified Brands 120 jobs

Murata Power Solutions 75 jobs

EOS Technologies 30 jobs

MRI Medical 23 jobs

Leoni Wiring Systems 15 jobs