Friday was the last day of work for more than 300 Kawasaki employees in Lincoln.

Kawasaki, one of Lincoln's largest for-profit employers, announced May 8 it was offering buyouts to 320 Lincoln workers.

On Friday, Vice President and Plant Manager Mike Boyle the buyouts were well-received, with more than 99 percent of the reduction voluntary.

Buyouts were offered to all employees in the consumer products division, which makes such powersports products as Jet Skis and all-terrain vehicles, Boyle said .

They were based on seniority, and although Boyle declined to give specifics, he said they were lucrative.

"It's a better financial package than severance would be," he said.

Boyle said the company wanted to make sure affected employees had a cushion to help them get through what will likely be a tough time finding another job, and also wanted to avoid dumping a large number of people into the state's unemployment pool.

Laid-off workers typically are not eligible for unemployment compensation until severance or buyout packages run out.

"Our thought was, if we offer a good-enough buyout, these people may not ever draw any unemployment check," Boyle said.

Kawasaki worked with the Nebraska Department of Labor's Rapid Response team, which helps laid-off employees with job searches, counseling and education or retraining.

"They did a great job helping our people, putting them at ease and helping them through this time," Boyle said.

The 320 job cuts reduced consumer products employment at Kawasaki by 25 percent and reduced the company's overall work force to about 1,300, including 400 in the rail car division.

Including temporary employees, Kawasaki has now cut nearly 500 positions since the first of the year.

Boyle said he hopes the cuts will be enough to weather what he called a "difficult economic situation."

According to the latest financial report from Japan-based Kawasaki Heavy Industries, sales in the consumer products division, which includes Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp., dropped 22 percent, from $4.33 billion in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008, to $3.42 billion in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2009.

Kawasaki is not the only powersports company struggling.

Arctic Cat, which makes snowmobiles and ATVs, on Thursday announced a $16.7 million fiscal fourth-quarter loss and said it would cut 5 percent of its work force. The company's sales during the quarter dropped more than 40 percent.

Polaris Industries, which makes snowmobiles, ATVs, motorcycles and utility vehicles, reported a 20 percent drop in sales in the first quarter and predicted a full-year decrease in sales of between 15 and 23 percent.

"The powersports industry will not hit pre-recession production figures for several years," Boyle said.

Still, he said, "We do feel pretty good that we've hit a bottom."

Lincoln Chamber of Commerce President Wendy Birdsall called it unfortunate "market forces" led to such a large job loss at one of Lincoln's marquee employers.

"We're insulated, but we're not isolated, and we are going to be affected (by the recession)," Birdsall said. "But with each of these, you hope it's going to be the last."

One bright spot for Kawasaki is its rail car division, which has guaranteed contracts through 2012 and could benefit from President Barack Obama's focus on upgrading and expanding public transportation systems.

Boyle said the rail car division is in a state of perpetual expansion.

"If we had more capacity, we could have more work," he said.

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.