Jeep supplier jobs nearly filled

'New people on the payroll in the Toledo economy'

JULIE M. McKINNON BLADE BUSINESS WRITER - -
A dozen new or expanded suppliers in the Toledo area are in the final stages of hiring about 1,000 employees to supply the Toledo Jeep Assembly complex.

That figure is on top of more than 1,100 employees of DaimlerChrysler AG and three key suppliers who will build 2007 Jeep Wranglers at the newer factories in the complex on two shifts starting Sept. 25.

About 330 of those jobs were filled by people from outside Toledo Jeep, said Bruce Baumhower, president of United Auto Workers Local 12, which represents workers at assembly complex and its suppliers. Toledo Jeep also makes Jeep Libertys and Dodge Nitros.

"There is a lot of new people on the payroll in the Toledo economy," he said.

HOW TO APPLY People wanting to apply for jobs with Toledo Jeep Assembly complex suppliers or other employers can contact The Source Northwest Ohio, Lucas County's employment center, on Monroe Street in downtown Toledo. It can be reached at 419-213-5627.

Chrysler began building the Wrangler in July at a multi-factory plant off Stickney Avenue. Last month it added the Nitro on the same line as the Liberty at its five-year-old plant next door. The complex has a total of more than 4,500 employees.

Both plants have suppliers perform some work previously done at Toledo Jeep. Tires and rims for the Nitro and Liberty, for example, are being assembled at Oakley Industries Inc. in Northwood, by about 650 workers, and Hyundai Mobis is supplying those parts for the Wrangler with 300 workers on-site at Toledo Jeep.

The Wrangler plant brings use of suppliers to a new level in the United States. Hyundai Mobis also builds Wrangler chassis modules, Kuka Group makes the vehicle's bodies on site, and Magna International Inc. paints the vehicles.

Magna's Decoma Systems opened a factory in nearby North Cross Industrial Park to supply entire Wrangler front ends. The plant, which also makes Nitro front ends, has finished its hiring of 100, said spokesman Tracy Fuerst.

Johnson Controls Inc. has added production of Nitro instrument panels and Wrangler seats to its factory in Northwood. The factory, opened in 2001 to assemble Liberty instrument panels, is in the final stages of more than doubling its workforce to about 270 employees, said Local 12's Mr. Baumhower.

Final hiring is taking place at most supplier factories that have used staffing services at Lucas County Workforce Development Agency, including Hyundai Mobis, logistics firm Exel PLC, and a Dana Corp. brake module factory on Matzinger Road with more than 100 employees, said Mike Vey, workforce information representative.

Exel hired about 150 people for a parts sequencing center on Matzinger Road and another one established in Chrysler's Stickney Avenue factory.

Toledo Molding & Die Inc. opened a factory in the former DeVilbiss Co. building in Toledo and is hiring the last 25 of 125 employees to supply instrument panels for the Wrangler. Faurecia Interior Systems in Northwood has about 50 employees, a number likely to double, union leaders said.

Yazaki Corp. has about 50 employees at a North Cross factory that supplies wire harnesses to Toledo Jeep. A company spokesman declined to provide details.