400-worker car part plant to close in spring

The Associated Press\nINDIANAPOLIS – International Automotive Components will close a central Indiana factory that employs nearly 400 people next spring in a move the company said was needed to trim excess capacity.\nThe factory in Edinburgh, Ind., about 50 miles northeast of Bloomington, supplies car makers General Motors and Chrysler with components like door trim and instrument panels. It opened in 1939 as \nAmos Plastics.\nThe company announced Tuesday it would close the plant by middle of next year, though company spokeswoman Emily Drake said no specific date has been set.\nDrake also said details on employee severance packages have yet to be worked out. She declined to comment on the closing outside a brief statement issued by the Dearborn, Mich.-based company.\nInternational Automotive Components, which is partially owned by Lear Corp., has 25 design, production and testing locations in North America. It also runs a factory in Greencastle, Ind., in western Indiana that employs about 975 people and makes door panels and hard trim components.\nDrake said no cuts are planned for the Greencastle plant or other company locations. She said it was uncertain whether the work performed at Edinburgh will be \ntransferred elsewhere.\n“We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then to figure that sort of thing out,” she said. “At this point, we’re not announcing anything.” \nIndiana has seen a string of plant shut downs or closing announcements in the automotive industry this year. In January, Pendleton-based Guide abruptly closed its Anderson, Ind., taillight plant. Delphi Corp. also stopped production this summer at a factory in \nAnderson.\nFord and BorgWarner have announced plans to close plants in Indianapolis and \nMuncie, respectively.\nIn February, Visteon Corp. announced the closing of its Connersville, Ind., factory, which employed 890 people at the time. It also plans next year to shut down its 600-employee factory in Bedford, Ind., about 25 miles south\nof Bloomington.\nThe state, however, is expecting a boost from Honda Motor Corp. as it has started construction on a new factory in Greensburg, Ind., that will employ about 2,000 people when it reaches full capacity. Toyota also has started producing cars at a new assembly line in the Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. plant near Lafayette.