On Thursday, the Bayliner boat manufacturing plant in Pipestone, Minnesota, announced it will soon close for good, eliminating roughly 210 jobs.

Some of those employees have been working for the company since the Carter administration, but one long time worker says they were all caught by surprise.

Temporary layoffs have been fairly common over the years at the Bayliner plant in Pipestone, but now that the layoffs are permanent, it's having a much bigger impact.

"None of us expected the plant to close," said long time employee Harold Meyer. "I mean that was way more than what we thought."

Take a look at Harold Meyer's wall and you'll see he's been a Bayliner success story. After 32 years he's celebrated several milestones and collected many plaques from his employer. Harold says he had no idea that time would be coming to an end until a meeting at 1:30 Thursday afternoon.

"We were supposed to work until 5:00 p.m., and they said, 'You guys can leave now. We'll pay you til 5:00,'" Harold said. "So everybody left. Nobody knew what to say."

Harold says workers in Pipestone were previously told that they had one of the most efficient plants.

"We're way ahead of every other plant," Harold said. "And they've always told us that our plant is the best."

In all, company officials closed 3 plants citing weak demand and a bad economy. Harold says employees were told the Pipestone plant was included because it doesn't have the capacity or potential workforce to grow from a consolidation.

Neither Harold nor his wife Sarah Meyer blame the company.

"Absolutely not," Harold said. "That company has treated me very well for 32 years. I've got nothing against the company."

Instead, they blame the economy.

"You just watch it and you let it go by and you think, 'Oh no, Well I feel sorry for these people,'" Harold said. "Until it hits yourself, and then you think, 'Oh, Now what am I going to do?'"

It appears some of those long time employees will have some time to find a new job. Harold says the company will eliminate about half it's workforce next week, but most of the remaining employees will stay until the plant shuts down in March.