NOTE 4 — INVENTORIES

The components of inventories as of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 are summarized as follows:


	March 31,		December 31,
	2015		2014
Raw materials	$	27,670	$	21,385
Work-in-process		9,110		9,565
Finished goods		12,649		6,769
		49,429		37,719
Less: Reserve for excess and obsolete inventory		(3,574)		(2,798)
Net inventories	$	45,855	$	34,921

The significant increase in inventory is primarily attributable to the Towers and Weldments segment where inventories have risen $10,394 since December 31, 2014. The sharp rise in raw materials reflects unusually high levels of steel plate at the Company’s Abilene, Texas tower plant, where production difficulties encountered in late 2014 and extending into early 2015 reduced the rate of material consumption; those difficulties have been resolved. The significant rise in finished goods inventories was caused by production resequencing in the Company’s Manitowoc, Wisconsin tower plant caused by supply shortages triggered by the west coast port labor slowdowns; therefore, the Company completed towers orders ahead of schedule to utilize the available production slots. The completed towers are for firm orders that are scheduled for delivery later in 2015.

The increase in the reserve for excess and obsolete inventory was caused by the decision to exit the market for servicing older-generation kilowatt and community wind turbines and consolidate the Company’s repair activities into a single shop within the Services segment.