A steep drop in sales.

A seemingly distant recovery from the present economic recession.

A more efficient plant in Mexico.

Competitors trying to elbow their way into the market.

As difficult as the loss of 400 jobs will be at the Cummins Filtration plant in Lake Mills, Iowa, just 21 miles southeast of Albert Lea on U.S. Highway 69, no one can place blame on the executives of the company.

Looking at the numbers, looking at the competitors, looking at how to stay a leader, there are sometimes choices in business where you must change or die. Sink or swim.

Competition produces jobs. Competition takes jobs away.

Whether it is making oil filters or the entire automobile, tough decisions happen.

The true concern now is preparing for the changes in the local market. Lake Mills is among a handful of small cities in the Albert Lea vicinity where the residents often shop and socialize and sometimes work in Albert Lea. Our regional center relies on the small cities just as the small cities rely on the regional center.

The layoffs begin in November and will continue through March 2010, Cummins Filtration officials announced Tuesday.

We urge Iowa economic development officials to go into overdrive in the search for companies to come to Lake Mills and hire a good, capable workforce. We have always been impressed by how industrious the city of Lake Mills is. It has served as an example for other small communities.

Further, we urge Minnesota economic development officials — who seem constantly to fear the loss of jobs to Iowa — to pick up the challenge of attracting companies to this border county, for there is the opportunity to attract a good, capable workforce.

In other words, Iowa and Minnesota should be competing for these workers.

Ready. Set. Go.