HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Just a day after Kansas Ethanol announced the re-opening of the CHS soy facility in Hutchinson, there is more good news.

Siemens/Gamesa is ramping up production at the Hutchinson facility. The wind turbine plant is calling back 100 full-time employees and some contractors. The number represents about 60 percent of the workforce laid off last fall.

Myca Welch with Siemens expects the workforce to be in place by September of this year.

The company says significant capital improvements have been made to the Hutchinson facility to retool the plant for the assembly of the SG 3.4-132 wind turbine. Hutchinson is the first factory to build a new product under the Siemens/Gamesa banner. The retooling will also allow for the production of the SG 2.7-129, SWT-2.3-108 as well as the SG 3.4-132.

Welch also says the plant brought back power unit assembly — an area that employs about five full-time employees. The power unit conditions and converts energy from the base of the tower.

Siemens laid off 140 employees in Hutchinson last fall and a significant number of others at the blade facility in Fort Madison, Iowa. The layoffs were part of an overall reduction of the newly-merged company’s workforce, which totaled more than 6,000 worldwide.