Vitrus Inc., a longtime manufacturer in Pawtucket, is laying off most of its employees as its corporate parent, Tecumseh Products Co., shifts production to India, Vitrus acknowledged yesterday.

Earlier this month, Vitrus told its employees that most of them would lose their jobs by the end of the year, according to general manger Terry Itameri-Kinter. Of nearly 40 workers, fewer than 10 are being retained, he said.

It is not clear if any manufacturing will continue in the facility, at 881 Main St., Itameri-Kinter said. Those losing their jobs include mainly production operators, inspectors and maintenance staff.

“The endgame is not well-defined,” Itameri-Kinter said. “There may be some operations still going. There may not be.”

New England has been bleeding manufacturing jobs for decades as companies have moved production plants to lower-wage nations in Asia, or closed shop due to foreign competition.

Last month, the Quaker Fabric Corp., in Fall River, filed for bankruptcy after 62 years in operation.

In Rhode Island, manufacturing jobs made up 38 percent of all private-sector employment in 1980. Last year, they accounted for 13 percent, according to the state Department of Labor and Training.

Founded more than three decades ago, Vitrus produces electrical connectors for the compressors in air conditioners and refrigeration systems.

In 1987, it was acquired by Tecumseh, a manufacturer of gasoline engines for snow throwers, industrial and agricultural applications and recreational vehicles.

Vitrus prides itself on its Pawtucket roots, boasting in corporate literature that its 50,000-square-foot plant is located “where America’s Industrial Revolution began,” in Pawtucket’s “historic textile and jewelry manufacturing district.”

But the company’s staff has shrunk since the mid-1990s, when it employed as many as 90 workers. However, Vitrus has said its “lean manufacturing” techniques greatly increased productivity.

Its demise appears to be related to struggles at its parent company, which lost $88.2 million in the second quarter of this year, according to federal filings. In the same period last year, the company reported net income of $33.9 million.

Sales were up in the second quarter, to $350.7 million from $349.4 million last year. But over all, Tecumseh has lost $105 million for the first six months of the year, compared with a $21.3-million profit in the first half of last year.

Teresa Hess, a spokeswoman for Tecumseh, based in Michigan, did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

Last month, the company sold the majority of its electrical-components operations to Regal Beloit Corp., generating $220 million in cash to pay down debt.

“The completion of this sale transaction is an important element of our ongoing initiatives to improve our liquidity and strengthen our balance sheet,” Edwin L. Buker, Tecumseh’s chief executive officer, said at the time.

In Pawtucket, much of the industrial base has already withered, and some long-vacant mills have recently been converted into housing.

But the loss of surviving factories is still a blow, City Council member David P. Moran said yesterday.

“We are trying to turn a lot of this stuff into the arts and condominiums,” Moran said. “But we’re not trying to eliminate manufacturing. That’s a staple of the city.”

bgedan@projo.com