DELPHI PACKARD Company examines need for new plant

THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
The plant hasn't received approval from Delphi Packard's parent company.
WARREN -- Delphi Packard Electric Systems is re-evaluating the size of a planned $75 million plastics plant near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
In light of a slowdown in the automotive industry, the company wants to be sure it needs the manufacturing capacity the plant would provide, said Ann Cornell, a Delphi Packard spokeswoman.
She said she expected the review to be completed soon because Delphi Packard wants to begin construction. Delphi Packard previously intended to begin construction this month.
Cornell said she couldn't comment on whether this review made it less likely that the plant would be built. Although Delphi Packard has been pushing for the plant for some time, it still has not received final approval from its parent company, Michigan-based Delphi Automotive Systems.
The past two years have been strong for automakers, but sales slowed dramatically last fall and have remained lower.
Layoffs: Orders for the wiring harnesses produced by Delphi Packard have fallen, so it has been laying off hundreds of Mahoning Valley workers for a week at a time It also permanently laid off about 230 workers and intends to cut 250 more jobs in the next year.
Delphi Packard has been moving some plastic operations out of its aging Dana Street plant in Warren as it buys new molding machines, which make plastic parts. It wants the new machines in a climate-controlled environment.
It already set up a plastics plant in Cortland and is considering a second plant in a new industrial park at the airport. The Vienna plant would employ about 200, although workers would transfer there from other plants.