GKN Shuttering Litchfield Plant

GKN plc (UK) announced the imminent closing of its Litchfield, Staffordshire plant in the UK. Approximately 175 workers will lose their jobs in an automotive business downturn, exacerbated by the failure of key customer MG Rover, and squeezed by high raw material costs. GKN inherited the Staffordshire facility in July 1966, one of four via its acquisition of Bound Brook Ltd. Litchfield is a standard powder metal production facility, manufacturing a variety of components such as turbocharger bearings, pulleys, sprockets, gears and bedplate inserts for automotive OEMs. GKN Sinter Metals is the world's leading producer of powder metal components, getting its start via the acquisition of Sinter Metals Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio in 1991. A GKN spokesman commented: "Litchfield has not been profitable for some time and we have worked exceptionally hard for a number of years to turn it round. External market conditions have gone against the plant, including the loss of MG Rover which gave it a pretty hard knock." GKN has been forced by market conditions and cost structure to close other facilities in favor of moving production to lower-cost locations around the world. Most recently, the company announced all three of its facilities in Michigan will close. In the past, Litchfield has grown as other plants closed. In 1999, GKN closed its Rigby Metal Components subsidiary in Cleckheaton, transferring production to Lichfield. Litchfield employees will reportedly be given opportunities to bid on open positions at other GKN facilities; there are ten other GKN plants in the UK. The Litchfield plant will be closed by mid-2006.