KBI plant closing

PERKINS TWP — It's official.KBI, formerly New Departure and later Delphi, will cease operations on Dec. 31.All 287 production and skilled trades employees, and 72 managers at the plant will lose their jobs, said Ben Taylor, president of the UAW Local 913.The factory's parent company, Metadyne Performance Group, issued a statement Thursday morning about the decision, and employees were officially told at meetings throughout the day, Taylor said.MPG announced "the exit of its wheel bearing business in Sandusky, Ohio. MPG, in coordination with its customers and suppliers, anticipates an orderly wind-down and exit of business operations by 2016 or early 2017."KBI was purchased by a subsidiary of HHI Group Holdings Inc. (predecessor of MPG) in 2008. The local plant specialized in manufacturing wheel bearings.KBI plant manager Gene Biroth did not return phone calls asking for an interview.Union stays proud"We fought hard. We did our part to help keep it open for the employees and for the community," Taylor said.Plant chairman Greg Matter said he got the call from Biroth Wednesday night."He said we are going to get out of the bearing businesses per talks with GM," Matter recalled. "I said 'So that means we are closing' and he said 'yes.' I said 'OK' and hung up on him."Taylor asked Biroth if they would sell the building.He said they would not because of the lease agreement, but they were trying to renegotiate the lease to get out of it, Taylor recalled.KBI has a lease agreement through 2032.Taylor anticipates the building could remain unused for a couple years, but hopes he is wrong.The union and KBI were in contract negotiations in 2013 and again in 2015 seeking a labor agreement all sides could accept.Last year the union received approval from the U.S. government for a Trade Adjustment Assistance program.The TAA is administered through the U.S. Department of Labor and allows displaced workers to receive two years of unemployment, two years of schooling in any state and 75 percent of health insurance premium assistance.EMPLOYEES — PAST AND PRESENTA current skilled trade employee of 10 years said the feeling at the plant was one of doom and gloom.Retired employee Sam Artino worked for New Depature and Delphi.He remembers a day when more than 3,000 employees worked at the plant."It is too bad. It will hit the community as far as its tax base and the loss of good jobs," Artino said.Artino said the company was always profitable and made quality products."This has nothing to do with labor costs or quality. It is about greed and power for top executives," he said.THE COUNTYAbbey Bemis, director of the Erie County Economic Development Corp., received a call from Biroth Thursday morning.While disappointing, ECEDC was already expecting KBI's closing, she said. They had been talking to the company to see if anything could be done to prevent the closing."Anytime there is a closing, it takes a while for the county to absorb those employees (into other jobs). It has an impact," Bemis said.She said ECEDC has been in contact with regional and state departments to start strategizing ways to market the building and to consider relevant companies that could utilize it."Now that the company has made the announcement and the building will be coming available, more active marketing can begin," Bemis said.