This article was written by Lindsey Hess and featured on Fox Illinois on July 25, 2015

A major blow was dealt to central Illinois manufacturing on Friday.

Mitsubishi Motors says it plans to stop production at its plant in Normal. The company’s spokesman said Friday the Japanese automaker reviewed its global supply chain, and decided it was necessary to end production. The Illinois Policy Institute says there have been five major losses to Illinois manufacturing just this month.

Last week, General Mills in Chicago announced it would be shutting down its plant, leaving 500 workers without jobs. The Institute says this month the state’s lost almost 2,500 jobs. 1,200 workers in Normal are looking for new jobs after Mitsubishi motors announced it was stopping production.

“It’s hard not to feel really bad for a lot of families in the Bloomington-Normal area. Yet at the same time, it’s unfortunately not a total surprise. The plant has been having trouble for a number of years,” said Todd Maisch, President and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

Ronald McNeil, Dean of Banking and Finance at University of Illinois Springfield says Mitsubishi lost money on the Eclipse and, lost its partner, Chrysler. “They’re still strong in heavy equipment; they’re excellent in terms of trucks around the world. They can compete in that market. They’re not making a lot of money evidently on cars,” McNeil said.

The Illinois Policy Institute says within ten days, a string of four other major plants announced they were either closing or moving workers to other states. “This is just something that’s happening too much. It’s a pattern and it’s not happening in any states around us and it’s because we have policy problems in the state of Illinois,” said Michael Lucci, Director of Jobs and Growth at the Illinois Policy Institute.

Maisch says the most major problem is worker’s compensation. “It’s the thing I hear the most about. We are the most out of line with our surrounding states, especially in Indiana. I think it’s one that is readily fixable if we can just get parties from both sides to say this is about jobs,” said Maisch.

Lucci tells us, Illinois is down 7,500 manufacturing jobs this year. “We just keep losing manufacturing jobs and everyone around us is gaining them. Sometimes they’re just picking them off of us because the company is moving over the border,” Lucci said.

Experts say since 2012, the state has been losing manufacturing jobs. “You see them migrate. We need to get those back. We need to become very business friendly or job friendly,” McNeil said.

Todd Maisch tells us Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin have all gained manufacturing jobs in the last year. Department of Commerce Director Jim Schultz has issued the following statement on the closing of the Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois.

“I am saddened to see a company as large and pivotal as Mitsubishi close their doors in Illinois,” said Schultz. “We will be taking the necessary steps on the ground to help with job training and placement for the workers. We desperately need to improve the business climate here in Illinois. We need to retain companies and jobs, not lose them.”