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Superior Industries International, Inc., a supplier of original equipment aluminum wheels to automakers, will be closing its Van Nuys, Calif. manufacturing facility in an effort to further reduce costs and more closely align product capacity with sharply lower consumer demand for light vehicles.
With its remaining five plants in North America and joint venture in Hungary, Superior still has the ability to accommodate current and expected production requirements, according to the company.
The move will eliminate about 290 jobs, representing 9 percent of Superior’s total work force, saving some $16.5 million in yearly labor costs.
“Closing the Van Nuys plant, where we launched our OEM aluminum wheel business over 30 years ago, and losing many loyal and long-term employees makes this decision particularly difficult,” says Chairman, CEO and President Steven Borick.
“Nevertheless,” he adds, “it is imperative to right-size our capacity in line with current and projected vehicle production while maintaining the leverage for future business opportunities. We are committed to coming out of this unprecedented business downturn as a stronger, leaner company.”
Superior says it expects the plant closing to be completed this summer, and it will incur severance pay and other associated costs of about $2.1 million.
The company supplies aluminum wheels to Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Seat, Skoda, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
For more information, visit www.supind.com.
