Dana to lay off 5,000 and close
Dana Corp. (Latest price: DAN), an automotive supplier to Ford with plants located in Louisville and Elizabethtown, announced this morning it will close 10 plants and lay off 5,000 employees as a result of plunging auto sales.
Whether Dana’s continuing losses will affect its Louisville plant, which employs 70 people, or another plant employing 475 workers in Elizabethtown remains to be determined, Dana Corp. spokesman Chuck Hartledge said.
“I cannot tell you the impact in Louisville,” he said. “We will evaluate all of our options.”
The announcement came on the eve of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. announcing what are expected to be dismal third quarter results.
“It is a pretty tough environment,” Hartledge said. “The whole industry is in the same boat.”
Based in Toledo, Ohio, Dana emerged from bankruptcy protection in January. The auto parts supplier employs approximately 35,000 people in 26 countries and has 110 factories.
With some 2,600 employees in the state, Dana is one of the largest manufacturing employers in Kentucky, according to the Cabinet for Economic Development.
In July, Dana laid off 260 employees in Elizabethtown, where workers weld frames for F-150 trucks. The Elizabethtown plant is the largest of eight Dana factories in Kentucky.
Now that Ford is beefing up F-150 truck production with the launch of the redesigned 2009 model, Hartledge declined to comment on whether more work would come to the Elizabethtown plant.
Reporter Jere Downs can be reached at (502) 582-4669.
Whether Dana’s continuing losses will affect its Louisville plant, which employs 70 people, or another plant employing 475 workers in Elizabethtown remains to be determined, Dana Corp. spokesman Chuck Hartledge said.
“I cannot tell you the impact in Louisville,” he said. “We will evaluate all of our options.”
The announcement came on the eve of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. announcing what are expected to be dismal third quarter results.
“It is a pretty tough environment,” Hartledge said. “The whole industry is in the same boat.”
Based in Toledo, Ohio, Dana emerged from bankruptcy protection in January. The auto parts supplier employs approximately 35,000 people in 26 countries and has 110 factories.
With some 2,600 employees in the state, Dana is one of the largest manufacturing employers in Kentucky, according to the Cabinet for Economic Development.
In July, Dana laid off 260 employees in Elizabethtown, where workers weld frames for F-150 trucks. The Elizabethtown plant is the largest of eight Dana factories in Kentucky.
Now that Ford is beefing up F-150 truck production with the launch of the redesigned 2009 model, Hartledge declined to comment on whether more work would come to the Elizabethtown plant.
Reporter Jere Downs can be reached at (502) 582-4669.
