Canadian company seeking plant site

Union and company hope to find work for 120 workers losing their jobs.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
One supplier to General Motors' Lordstown complex is closing as another prepares to open.
Android Industries will close its Vienna plant in October, but Automodular intends to have a new plant operating by then. Automodular is taking over some of the work that had been done by Android.
The net result will be fewer jobs.
About 120 workers will lose their jobs with the closing of the Android plant, and Automodular intends to hire between 60 and 70.
An Android official and Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, said both sides will work to place the Android workers with other GM suppliers.
"That's automatic," Graham said. "We have to take care of them."
The 100 hourly workers at Android were affiliated with Local 1112, which represents about 4,000 workers at the GM assembly plant.
Some of the 100 workers may find jobs at Automodular, but the union also will try to place them with other suppliers, Graham said.
Dave Donnay, director of operations for Michigan-based Android, said the company will assist the workers in finding jobs.
"We have an excellent work force," he said.
Lear plant closing
Recently, about 300 workers at a Lear Corp. plant in Lordstown learned that plant was closing as well. GM awarded the seating contract for its Lordstown plant to Intier Automotive Seating, which is based in Canada.
Graham said all 300, who are represented by the UAW, will continue working, either at a local plant operated by Intier or at Automodular.
The supply contracts are changing as GM prepares to launch the new Chevrolet Cobalt from its Lordstown complex this fall.
Donnay said Android's Vienna plant had been supplying front suspensions, rear axles and fan modules to the car assembly plant. The suspension work was sent back to the car assembly plant, and GM didn't allow Android to bid on the other work because of a change in outsourcing procedures.
Automodular announced this week that it will be supplying the car assembly plant with the fan module, bars for the car doors and bases for the engines.
Sites sought
Chris Nutt, company vice president of finance for Automodular, said company officials are looking at plant sites in Lordstown and nearby communities, he said. The search is expected to take three or four weeks and will be done in consultation with GM, he said.
Nutt said it's too early to discuss labor relations at the plant, but all of the company's other plants in the United States are unionized. Automodular is based in Whitby, Ontario, Canada.
Automodular said the Lordstown plant is expected to produce about $5 million (Canadian) in sales. Overall, the company earned $3.7 million last year on sales of $107.9 million.
Automodular has about 1,000 employees at eight plants.
GM is spending nearly $1 billion to upgrade its Lordstown plants to prepare for the launch of the Cobalt and the Pontiac Pursuit. The Pursuit will be sold only in Canada. GM is ending production of the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire.
GM is calling the Cobalt a premium small car and has been showing it at car shows. Pricing for the car hasn't been announced.