Five hourly employees and 19 salaried employees at Manufacturing Technology Inc. are now out of a job.

MTI laid off the employees earlier this month, saying there’s a drop in demand for large friction welding machines, according to the South Bend Tribune.

The cuts mean MTI is down to 140 employees in a mixture of office and labor positions at its South Bend plant. However, at its United Kingdom and China facilities, there weren’t any job cuts. Those facilities have about 85 employees combined.

Bob Besse, vice president of marketing and sales development, told the South Bend Tribune that companies are purchasing and using smaller, automated, and less expensive machines instead of the large welding machines that the South Bend plant makes. He does note that demand is typically cyclical, with ups and downs every five years.