About 90 professionals and staff members at Deere’s Southeast engineering center in Charlotte will relocate to Cary this fall, the Charlotte Business Journal reports. An unspecified number of positions will be eliminated. Employees affected by the downsizing will be offered employment in other Deere facilities around the country, a spokesman says.

The Charlotte center’s engineers developed products for the John Deere turf-equipment and compact-utility machine lines. Most of the move will be complete by Oct. 1, but the center will not close entirely until 2011.

The Illinois-based company says it’s making the change to better utilize resources and facilities.

“This action helps John Deere continue as a strong employer in North Carolina as we focus on serving customers through improved use of company assets and finances,” says John May, global vice president of the turf and utility platform.

Deere also has a manufacturing plant in Fuquay-Varina and a training facility in Morrisville.

In 2008, it had about 2,000 employees in North Carolina, but the company has since downsized its operations.