ThyssenKrupp AG said yesterday that it planned to close a Detroit plant that has built auto parts for 81 years, citing a lack of orders for doors, fenders and other components.þþThe plant, which has about 350 employees, will be shut by the end of this year, ThyssenKrupp's United States unit said in a statement. Production will move to a factory in Shelbyville, Ky.þþAs many as 8,000 people worked at the Detroit plant in the mid-1950's, making roofs, doors and fenders for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Now, the 2-million-square-foot factory builds parts mainly for Ford's Expedition and Lincoln Navigator large sport-utility vehicles. Combined United States sales for those vehicles fell 23 percent this year through April.þþThomas McDonald, a spokesman for ThyssenKrupp Budd, said most of the remaining employees at the plant are United Automobile Workers union members who are close to retirement. The company is negotiating with the U.A.W. on the terms for phasing out the factory, he said.þþ
Source: NY Times
