Mercury Manufacturing

Three local manufacturers that supply products to handbag and accessories company Vera Bradley Designs will start laying off employees soon. Phoenix Sewing, 9823 Indianapolis Road; Summit Production Systems, 1530 Progress Road; and Mercury Manufacturing, Marciel Drive; will close and lay off a combined 537 people. Phoenix will lay off 190, Summit 200 and Mercury 147. The senior director of marketing for Vera Bradley said recently that the layoffs are linked to Vera Bradley's decision to consolidate all of its domestic production in-house by early 2009 in the interest of quality control.