Local GM supplier to close plant
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
MORAINE — The closing of the local General Motors Corp. plant affects not only GM workers, but those employed by suppliers, as well.
A case in point is Jamestown Inc., which supplies parts "just in time" from its Arbor Boulevard plant to the GM plant at Stroop Road and Kettering Boulevard.
Sylvester Townsend, Jamestown's owner, said Tuesday, Oct. 7, he has informed his approximately 80 employees that the local facility will close after GM closes its Moraine plant Dec. 23.
"GM has been my only customer," Townsend said.
Jamestown has operated locally since 1992 and at one point employed 350 people on three shifts, Townsend said.
The GM-Moraine plant lost its night shift in 2006 and its second shift last month. Four months to the day that it announced that the Moraine plant will close by 2010, GM said last week the plant will cease production on Dec. 23.
"We have some real good employees," Townsend said. "What we're down to now is our most senior people, and they do a real good job."
Companies like Jamestown — which sometimes call themselves "sequencers" — deliver components to customers as needed, allowing manufacturers to devote more floor space to production.
Jamestown also has 50 employees in Youngstown supplying a thriving GM plant in Lordstown. Townsend said his sons may relocate to the Youngstown area. As for himself, he is thinking of retiring.
"The whole city, the area is going to be hit hard," Townsend said.
He declined to say what parts his company ships to GM. He does not see his company finding another customer to replace GM before Dec. 23.
Jamestown is not alone. Johnson Controls' Alex Road facility supplies seats for the mid-size SUVs assembled at the GM-Moraine plant. Employees of Johnson Controls' West Carrollton facility said this summer that their company has pledged to try to find a new product.
A spokeswoman for Glendale, Wisc.-based Johnson Controls could not be immediately reached Tuesday.
Dave Hicks, Moraine city manager, has said the GM-Moraine plant has 103 suppliers in 75 Ohio communities. That number goes up when suppliers outside Ohio are counted, Hicks has said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
