CNH Industrial to close Burlington assembly plant by mid-2026

BURLINGTON, Iowa (KWQC) - CNH Industrial has finalized its plan to close its Burlington assembly plant by mid-2026, ending a century-long chapter of manufacturing in the city.

The closure will affect roughly 200 employees as CNH says demand for its backhoe line has dropped by nearly half over the past decade.

The company says it plans to keep about 60 engineering and testing jobs in Burlington and will work with the United Auto Workers to offer support packages, job training and health coverage for those impacted.

Community response

“We’ve had generations of people work at Case in Burlington, Iowa, so to lose them really is devastating news and so we’re going to try to do what we can by attracting more jobs to our area, making the jobs in our area stronger,” said Mayor Jon Billups.

For more than 100 years, CNH has been part of Burlington’s identity. The decision follows years of falling backhoe sales, with demand for one of the plant’s top products nearly cut in half over the last decade.

Moving forward

Burlington leaders are already working on ways to help families transition. “We’re basically going to do what the city is allowed to do — that’s going to be facilitate with different organizations to try to see what we can do to help them,” Billups said.

The mayor says Burlington is seeing new growth in several industries and hopes that long-term resilience will carry the community forward.

“So we’ve got to take a little time to grieve, and then we’ll recover and we’ll try to rebound and rise above this current challenge. We’re in the Midwest — that’s what we do. We’re constantly faced with challenges and we continue to rise to it,” Billups said.

City officials say several growing industries in Burlington may help absorb displaced workers. The CNH plant will officially phase out production by mid-2026, but city leaders say they’re staying optimistic, working to turn this loss into a new opportunity for Burlington’s future.