Published: October 30, 2009 10:12 pm      

Carlisle to close Logansport facility

Plant employing 118 workers expects to shut down by March

Carlisle Brake & Friction announced Friday that it would close its Logansport facility, putting about 118 employees out of a job.

The company, headquartered in Bloomington, blamed the economy for the decision to close the plant at 1441 Holland St.

“Adverse economic conditions in 2009 have resulted in a significant decline in the demand for products manufactured by our Logansport facility and led to this difficult decision,” Chris Koch, president of Carlisle Brake & Friction, said in a news release. “After an extensive review, we have determined to cease the manufacture of a number of existing products and move production of the remaining products to other Carlisle Brake & Friction locations.”

The company said the transition would begin immediately, with a majority of production operations stopping by the end of December. To meet particular customer commitments, the company said, some operations might continue until the end of March.

Skip Kuker, president of the Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation, called the announcement disappointing for Cass County.

“Obviously, there is a large payroll affected,” he said. “They are good paying jobs that will have to be replaced. There’s also a building and each worker’s family and insurance.”

The company said the decision was a difficult one that affected not only employees, but their families and the entire community.

“We intend to help our employees transition to other opportunities by offering various transition services,” Koch said. “Salaried employees will be offered severance packages and outplacement assistance. The company will work closely with union officials to determine severance packages for hourly workers.”

Kuker said his office had already made several phone calls to assist those who will be unemployed as a result of the closure.

He has already been in contact with those responsible for work force development in Indiana and other agencies from the state, to make sure employees have proper knowledge and information they need to go forward.

“We hope to take them through the training adjustment assistance act,” Kuker said. “Hopefully that will be able to help the employees.”

Kuker plans to begin putting together meetings for employees next week. He said he also planned to help the company with plans for the building.

According to its Web site, Carlisle has designed and manufactured brake products for original equipment manufacturers around the world for more than 30 years.

The company also has locations in Pontypool, Wales; Hangzhou, China; and Bloomington, all of which will continue production.

Kuker said he had heard rumors of closure and was not entirely surprised by the announcement.

“With the economy and product lines, you never know,” Kuker said. “Every entity is looking at every dime being spent. Part of what we’ve been told from Carlisle, every plant was being looked at to see which ones are profitable.”

• Denise Massie is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5151 or denise.massie@pharostribune.com