Mohawk Industries is cutting 400 Middle Georgia jobs at their plant in Dublin.

The layoffs will occur in stages between now and March of 2010. The Calhoun-based company says it will keep close to 200 of the plant's employees who work in their dyeing and customer service departments.

Employees at the Dublin plant make commercial carpeting. Over the last year demand for the product has dropped 24-percent. Officials with Mohawk say they are, "aggressively driving costs down to improve capital." That strategy appears to be working. Last week they announced second quarter earnings of 46-million dollars.

Local officials say the impact on the community will be substantial. The plant has been in Dublin for 47 years and at one time was the largest employer in Laurens County. Some of the employees will be offered jobs at other Mohawk facilities in the Southeast.

Tags: GA, Mohawk Industries, Georgia layoffs, Dublin, Laurens County, carpet industry