CHENNAI: Chennai-based truck maker Ashok Leyland has announced production cuts across its factories in the country to reduce output in line with slowing consumption, a trend among automakers facing declining sales and piling inventory for over nine consecutive months to August.In a communication to the exchanges, Ashok Leyland said measures to announce non-working days in September– from five days at its three units in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, to 18 days at its Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, plants– were due to “continued weak demand” for its products. For the company, total domestic sales halved in August against the same period last year, while cumulatively it dipped 18% in the April-August period this fiscal.“This is nothing out of the ordinary as we have done this in the previous months, too,” said an Ashok Leyland official, speaking on conditions of anonymity. The company had previously observed non-working days at some of its plants in the three months leading to August.The truck maker had recently announced voluntary retirement and separation schemes for certain managerial staff categories. There is also a plan under implementation to slash operational costs across verticals targeted to save ?500 crore this year. According to sources aware of plant developments, there have been some job cuts at the level of contract workers, trainees and those under a central governmentinitiated employability mission, but permanent employees have not felt any impact. The company refused to answer queries on job cuts.