Marquardt Switches Inc., a manufacturing and engineering plant in Cazenovia, will relocate its production operations – about 75% of its workforce – to its plant in Irapuato, Mexico, due to economic challenges, it announced Friday.

About 180 jobs will be affected by the relocation, which is expected to be completed by mid-2025; approximately 60 jobs will remain at the Cazenovia site, the business said.

Marquardt Switches' North American headquarters is a 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Madison County that produces switches and controls for the automotive industry and others. Low orders, changes wrought by the pandemic, global tensions and rising costs were behind the decision, the company said.

"Despite significant efforts and investments to mitigate these challenges, we have not been able to achieve the necessary sales growth," it said, adding that an analysis for the future did not show sufficient growth.

The company said some service and sales jobs, and equipment manufacturing will remain in Cazenovia.

"We deeply regret the need for these measures at the Cazenovia site and are committed to supporting affected employees through these changes. However, these decisions were necessary and urgently required to ensure our continued competitiveness," the company said.