Japanese steelmaker Sumitomo Metal Industries' (Sumitomo) US-based auto tubing subsidiary Seymour Tubing (Seymour) will close its Dunlap, Tennessee plant this summer, with the loss of 86 jobs.
The plant's closure comes as Germany-based automobile manufacturer VW begins the construction of its new $1 billion Chattanooga plant nearby.
Following the closure, production activities in Dunlap will be moved to the company's main plant in Seymour, Indiana. The 170,000 square feet Dunlap plant, which opened in 2001, has cost approximately $30 million.
Commenting on the closure, Seymour's chief executive and president Jiro Hosono stated, "In view of the depressed North American economy, especially due to the rapid and significant decline of the automotive sector, we have determined that maintaining production at two separate factories was not feasible."
The plant makes parts used in shock absorbers, bushings, exhaust systems, fuel pump assemblies and power steering cylinders.
Seymour Tubing, founded in 1989 as a joint venture between Japan's Sumitomo Metal Industries and Mitsui & Co. to make steel tubing for shock absorbers, is now 80 percent owned by Sumitomo Metal Industries and fits within that company's Pipe & Tube division.