FARGO (AP) - A company spokesman says the Case-New Holland plant in Fargo will see temporary shutdowns of a production line next year but employees will be shifted to other lines.

Tom Witom, a spokesman for Illinois-based CNH Global, the plant's parent company, said the shutdowns will run for about nine weeks, scattered from January through April. He said he could not say how many workers would be affected.

"We don't know at this stage," Witom said Friday. "There are ways of shifting some of the work to other sections and we've got a world-class manufacturing industry."

Chris Skeldum, president of the International Association of Machinists chapter, said the demand remains strong for tractors made in Fargo, so most of the workers on the construction equipment line will move to the tractor line.

"Not very many people should be affected with the down time, but there'll be a couple weeks off here, a couple back on," Skeldum said. "What I'm hearing is, after the first quarter, things are supposed to pick back up. Hopefully that's what happens, but you never know with the economy."

Skeldum and Witom said the temporary shutdowns are in response to slack demand for construction equipment made at the plant.

"The demand for equipment has been soft. It's getting inventory in sync with the demand," Witom said. "We'll have a better fix on it in January."

The Case-New Holland plant is one of Fargo's largest employers.

More than 600 people work on the assembly lines at the plant, making about 20 different types of front-end loaders and farm tractors.

Case-New Holland is a unit of Illinois-based CNH Global, which makes farm and construction equipment.