LATHAM — Plug Power Inc., the Latham-based hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer, announced Wednesday that it is cutting 56 local positions in an effort to stay in business long enough to commercialize its products.

New Plug Power President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Marsh said about 80 positions in total are being eliminated throughout the company, including its offices in Vancouver, Canada and Holland. He said most of the jobs being eliminated are administrative positions that had redundant duties throughout Plug’s offices. Most of the work will be consolidated at the corporate headquarters in Latham. He said the company also cut engineers involved in the development of the GenCore backup power system.

“We are structuring Plug Power for long-term success, moving from an engineering and technology company to one focused on sales and marketing of our products,” Marsh said.

In regulatory documents filed May 15, Plug Power officials revealed the company had $51.7 million in cash and $90.8 million in auction rate securities, mostly secured by student loans backed by the federal government. Plug admitted difficulty with liquidating its securities portfolio.

For the first quarter Plug Power lost about $20.7 million, of which $15.5 million went to operational costs. The job cuts are expected to reduce Plug Power’s cash burn and extend its capability to fund itself for another 12 to 18 months as well as help achieve “short-term revenue targets.”

Marsh said Plug Power will elaborate on its long-term and short-term goals during its next conference call with investors later in the summer. He said in the meantime Plug Power will focus on its marketing and sales for the GenCore backup power system and engineering for a new GenDrive product. The GenDrive is a hydrogen fuel cell Plug Power hopes to market as a replacement for conventional batteries used in fork lifts for warehouses.

“We need two different devices for that market, we have one available now and we’ll have the other one available later this year to give a complete suite [of power products],” Marsh said.

Plug Power’s stock slipped 12 cents to $2.50 in below average trading Wednesday.