Superior Industries International Inc. announced Friday plans to close its manufacturing facility in Johnson City, Tennessee, resulting in a layoff of about 500 employees.
“This is the latest step in our program to rationalize our production capacity to more effectively balance plant utilization and costs against our customers’ changing requirements for pricing, wheel size, design, scheduling and volume,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Steven Borick.
Borick added: “All existing customer programs will be transferred to Superior’s other manufacturing plants. However, recent Big 3 Automakers announcements of sweeping production cuts, particularly in Superior’s important light trucks and SUV platforms, have reduced Superior’s requirements for the near future. Employee notices were distributed today so that programs can be developed jointly with the State of Tennessee to assist our workers in their future employment needs.”
Superior expects severance and layoff-related costs of approximately $1 million over the next 6 months. As of August 31, the book value of the manufacturing assets at the Johnson City facility was about $18 million.