More than 150 employees of the TriMas Corporation have found themselves out of work, as the company recently announced its intention to close its Huntsville, Ontrario plant. The company, which manufactures trailer hitches and related accessories for the automobile and light-duty truck aftermarket under the Cequent brand names, attributes the closing to a continued restructuring initiative. "We regret having to close our Huntsville facility because of the long-standing and excellent relationship we have had with our employees and the Huntsville community," says Edward L. Schwartz, president of the Cequent Group. "The decision to close this facility is the result of our improvements and the continued rationalization of our available manufacturing and distribution capacity to accelerate our cost competitiveness and to better serve the needs of our customers." Schwartz added: "We have implemented a number of productivity initiatives and operational improvements over the last two years that will allow us to seamlessly consolidate the Huntsville plant operations into our Goshen, Indiana facility, which has state-of-the art automation and paint capabilities. We have also been aggressively expanding the sourcing of high-volume products which no longer require North American manufacturing capability." The Huntsville plant operations will be phased out by December 2007. This action will eliminate 163 positions and is expected to result in annual pre-tax savings in the range of $2 to $3 million. TriMas will record an estimated pre-tax charge of approximately $11 million of which $10 million will be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2007, when management approved this action. The remaining amount will be recognized in 2008. Approximately $4 million of the fourth quarter 2007 charge will represent non-cash charges related to accelerated depreciation on property and equipment. For more information about TriMas, visit the company's Web site.
| 
