By MIKE LEWIS,
Times-Mail
mikel@tmnws.com
The closing of Visteon's massive Connersville plant will have no effect on the company's Bedford employees.
But the local Visteon Corp. plant continues to face its own struggles in the sagging domestic auto market. Visteon is a chief supplier for Ford, which continues to report steep drops in sales.
Thursday, Visteon reported it will close the Connersville plant, which will idle the remaining 890 workers. At its peak, the factory employed more than 3,600 people, and 1,800 worked there in 2004.
Meanwhile, scheduled layoffs continue at the Bedford facility.
Scott Barnes, Bedford plant manager, said this morning the Connersville action is not linked to the Bedford plant.
"This has no effect on us," Barnes said. "This is basically a matter that effects only Connersville. "It's absolutely separate."
Visteon is based in Dearborn, Mich. Jim Fisher, who directs corporate communications for the company, was out of his office today.
But in an earlier statement, Fisher said Visteon would continue to review other factories. Fisher said the Connersville closing is part of a three-year plan to fix, close or sell about 30 facilities. The goal, he said, is to make the company more globally competitive.
"We've done a very thorough review of this facility," Fisher said in an Associated Press report. "We do not believe there is a viable business case for continuing to operate it."
Visteon and union representatives will begin negotiations over severance packages, Fisher said.
"Some of that work will go away as certain products reach the end of their production run," said Kimberley Goode, Visteon's vice president of corporate communications, in the Associated Press report. "Most of the remaining work will move to other Visteon plants."
Like the Bedford facility, the Connersville plant has seen layoffs in recent years, as domestic automakers continue to struggle.