Aluminum parts supplier closing plant

Aluminum parts supplier closing plant

Aluminum rods lined up inside a plant. Photo via pixabay.com

The North America division of a global company is closing an aluminum parts plant in the region and laying off nearly 150 workers.

Hydro Extrusion North America, a division of Oslo, Norway-based Hydro, filed a notice with the state of Michigan last month that it decided to permanently close its plant in Cooper Township, at 5575 N. Riverview Dr., by Jan. 1, with “limited operations” continuing into the first quarter of 2020.

Hydro’s extrusion plant north of Kalamazoo provides aluminum extrusion, machining, fabrication and finishing services.

Hydro says 147 workers will be laid off, including all management and hourly employees, and the affected employees do not have bumping rights within the company.

Some of the affected positions include machine operators, freight handlers, extrusion support operators, welders, truckers, die repair technicians and more.

The move comes after “careful evaluation” of the company’s “utilization and market capacity requirements” within the North American extrusion business, Hydro says in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice filed with the state.

The plant’s hourly employees are represented by United Steelworkers USW, AFL-CIO, CLC, whose chief elected officer is Ken Watson.

Hydro

Hydro global offers aluminum solutions for over 30,000 customers worldwide and employs 35,000 people in 40 countries.

In the U.S., Hydro operates multiple business units offering aluminum in billets, rolled form, extrusion and precision tubing.

The company reported net income of about $4.3 billion in 2018.