COLUMBUS, Ind. -- Columbus-based Cummins Inc. said Thursday that it will lay off more than 700 workers, the majority of them temporarily, because of the ongoing economic slowdown.

Most of those layoffs will be at a Walesboro plant that makes diesel engines for Dodge Ram pickup trucks, 6News' Ben Morriston reported.

The MidRange Engine Plant will close effective May 15, trimming 610 of the 720 jobs lost.

"The engines we produce for Chrysler make up virtually all the demand at CMEP, and without the Chrysler production it is not economically feasible to operate the plant," said Jim Kelly, president of the engine business. "There is considerable uncertainty around Chrysler and when it will resume manufacturing operations, which makes it necessary for us to take this difficult action."

Cummins said it plans to move about 80 employees at that plant to other jobs within the company.

"Nobody wants to see this happen, but it's the economy," said Harold Armstrong, who works at another Cummins plant. "Chrysler is down and it won't get better until they're back to working."

Earlier this week, the company said it had scaled back production at the same plant to only two days a week.

The layoffs will allow those workers to apply for unemployment benefits, something that wasn't possible under the current arrangement.

Cummins said it expects to reopen the plant when Chrysler resumes truck production.

The engine maker plans unrelated layoffs of about 110 hourly workers in June from other plants in Columbus and nearby Seymour, including 30 layoffs at the Cummins Fuel Systems Plant, 50 cuts at the Cummins Industrial Center and 30 more from the Heavy Duty Machining operation.