Automaker's downsizing to affect 8 plants including Perrysburg Township

Article published Friday, February 16, 2007

Plants are in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana

ASSOCIATED PRESS | DETROIT - The fallout from Chrysler's big downsizing announcement this week will hit eight factories in addition to the three initially identified by the company.

The eight plants, in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, make components that go into slower-selling midsized sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks, and other large vehicles on which Chrysler plans to cut production through 2009.

The Chrysler Group, which had an operating loss of $1.5 billion in 2006 and expects to show losses through 2007, announced Wednesday it will eliminate 13,000 positions as it seeks to cut costs and return to profitability in 2008.

Chrysler, part of DaimlerChrysler AG, of Germany, said it will close the Newark, Del., assembly plant during the next two years and cut shifts at plants in Warren, Mich., and St. Louis.

A parts distribution center near Cleveland with 100 employees will close this year.

Company officials said yesterday much of the impact will be in southeastern Michigan, where 5,300 people will lose their jobs by 2009.

The hourly job cuts there include 1,000 positions when the shift is eliminated at the Warren truck plant, plus 250 jobs at a Detroit axle plant.

About 200 jobs are to be eliminated at the Mack Avenue Engine Plant I in Detroit, 100 at an engine factory in suburban Trenton, 65 at a stamping plant in Sterling Heights, and 100 at a stamping plant in Warren.

An additional 1,000 Michigan jobs will go as Chrysler explores selling support businesses, and 1,000 will be cut because of productivity improvements, said company spokesman David Elshoff. Where those job cuts will occur has not been determined, he said.

About 1,600 of the 2,000 white-collar layoffs will occur at the company's Auburn Hills headquarters, Mr. Elshoff said.

In Ohio, about 200 jobs will be eliminated at the suburban Toledo machining plant, which is part of about 800 jobs the Perrysburg Township factory will lose by 2011 when it converts into an engine plant. Also, 110 will be shed at a stamping plant in Twinsburg, near Cleveland.

The Indiana Transmission Plant I in Kokomo is to shed 100 jobs this year, said Chrysler spokesman Mike Aberlich.

All the cuts will take place during the next three years. After the announced closures and reductions, about 4,000 more cuts are to be made, Mr. Aberlich said. Company officials have said that about 475 of those will be in Ohio, mostly through productivity improvements.

On the plus side, Chrysler plans to double capacity of its new four-cylinder engine plant in Dundee, Mich., north of Toledo, this year. About 480 people, including parts supplier employees, now staff the plant, said Mr. Elshoff.

That could grow to around 550 by 2009 as the plant grows to its capacity of making 840,000 engines, he said.