Jeff Tucker, Shelbyville News staff writer
Reports circulating about the Internet and automotive circles about Shelbyville-based PK USA Inc. laying off all its employees and shutting down are untrue, a PK official emphasized Friday.
The automotive parts plant at 600 W. Northridge Drive will remain open and continue weathering the troubled auto sales market, said Bill Kent, PK USA vice president of corporate relations.
The misinformation is a result of a data entry by state officials, Kent said.
He explained that the company was required to notify the Indiana Department of Workforce Development of recent layoffs under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
PK did lay off about 80 hourly and salaried employees in recent weeks.
Kent said when he sent the proper paperwork to state officials, he left the category blank concerning the number of layoffs. Consequently, state officials listed all of PK's 266 remaining employees as being laid off.
The error has been corrected.
As a result of the error, PK employees and suppliers who heard about the misinformation have been in an uproar, Kent said.
"We're not closing down, we're staying in business," Kent said. "Is it tough? Yeah, but it's tough all over. We are committed to Shelbyville, and we are committed to our customers. I have faith in this area and the people in this area."
PK USA's 317,978-square-foot plant supplies metal body parts, chassis parts and plastic injection parts for Nissan, Subaru, Toyota and Honda. The plant has been laying off employees for months as the company "severely reduced its staffing levels and compressed its operations to one shift at its Indiana plant," according to a PK news release sent out Friday.
PK's two other plants in Tennessee and Mississippi have been mothballed due to sales drops. Kent said the company has no intentions of selling the out-of-state plants "because if we look out, the future is bright. This is just a rough time in automotive."
The Shelbyville plant had 519 full-time employees in February 2007, 366 in November and was down to 319 in January before the latest round of layoffs reduced the workforce to 266.
Despite the sobering losses, Kent says he's optimistic about the company's future, noting "there's new business on the horizon."
"This is our corporate headquarters," he said. "The relationships are so strong here, and it's just a great place to be."