Forty-five employees of CPX Inc. in North Vernon are out of jobs and looking for new employment.
The plastic injection molding firm announced Friday that it is closing not only its North Vernon plant, which is located at 1400 Buckeye St. and has been in operation for 33 years, but also two facilities in Kentland, Ind.
In a notice to the state, the company says the closure is due to "unforeseeable economic circumstances" and all of its 214 employees have been terminated at its North Vernon and Kentland facilities.
Mike Sanders, the firm's owner and CEO, did not return telephone calls to the Plain Dealer. However, his wife, Candace Sanders, also a CPX employee, told the Newton County Enterprise that the firm was "blindsided" by its primary customer, reportedly General Electric, which apparently is taking its business elsewhere. CPX was one of the largest custom injection molding suppliers to the GE appliance division.
CPX, previously known as ComPonX, was founded by the late Stan Snyder in North Vernon in 1983. At one time, the local plant employed 75 people.
In early 2013, Mike Sanders acquired 100 percent ownership of the company after purchasing the interests of Mike and Lori Miller of North Vernon. Before that, Sanders and the Millers had jointly owned CPX since 2006.
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