A recruiting and staffing firm for Cree has laid off 319 contract workers that work for the LED company in Durham, North Carolina, U.S., according to a news & observer report.

The recruiting company Green Resources has disclosed the lay offs to the North Carolina’s Department of Commerce last week.

Changes in Cree’s work force was attributed to a “headcount reduction,” Mikio Anderson, Greene’s vice president of human resources, wrote to the state agency.

The reduction was attributed to Cree’s business operation changes, specifically the terminated production of an older generation product, and a new generation product to be produced overseas, explained Anderson.

Cree issued a statement noting its “contract workforce has historically fluctuated to match our business needs. Our Cree employee base remains solid and continues to grow.”

The company also added “the employees affected by these adjustments are temporary employees, and are not Cree employees.”

Cree said that it typically handles “initial product design, development and early production in-house,” then as volume ramps up “we utilize our contract manufacturing partners as appropriate to increase efficiency. We are leveraging our existing contract manufacturing partners who have operations in North America and overseas.”

The company will continue to use contract manufacturing partners, but “The high-value functions remain in Durham.”

Cree has a work force of 6,800 employees globally, including 2,600 workers in U.S. Contract workers are not included in these stats.

Greene Resources reported that 287 of the affected employees would be laid off Feb. 2, and the remaining will be laid off March 1.

The leading U.S. LED manufacturer has reported disappointing revenue figures for three consecutive quarters. The company reported revenues downed marginally from $415.1 million in 2013 to $ 413.2 million for 2Q15.

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