John Deere supplier Gates Corp. announces it's closing Newton plant in November

Gates Corp . has announced it will be closing its Newton facility in November, laying off 41 workers.

The closure was posted on Iowa’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, site. No reason was given for the closure, but Gates, a manufacturer of power transmission and fluid power solutions based in Denver, has been a supplier of hydraulic hoses to John Deere, which has cut thousands of jobs in Iowa and Illinois in recent months amid a downturn in agriculture-related manufacturing.

Gates did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Frank Liebl, executive director of the Newton Development Corp., said he had been concerned about the company because of its ties to Deere.

“I even went out and visited with them in April because I knew a lot of their business was with John Deere,” said Liebl, adding that company officials told him at the time that their business had not been affected.

He said he had not been advised of the company’s decision to close the Newton plant.

The 65,000 square foot facility, located in Newton’s industrial park just north of Interstate 80 on the city’s south side, is valued at $1.9 million, according to the Jasper County assessor's website.

The company in 2017 purchased Atlas Hydraulics , which had a facility in Newton.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: John Deere supplier Gates Corp. announces it's closing Newton plant in November