Hendrickson International says it will close its Chicago plant
and transfer production of conventional, multi-leaf and taper-leaf medium and heavy duty truck springs to operations in Mexico and Canada.
"Current market conditions in the heavy duty vehicle industry, coupled with longer-term trends toward lighter, less complex springs, have put us in a position where we have significant overcapacity," noted Steve Mance, general manager, Hendrickson Spring. "At the same time, many spring products increasingly are viewed as commodity products, with price being the key customer requirements. These factors have made the Chicago plant non-competitive."
Most of the production will be moved to Hendrickson Rassini Spring, a joint venture of Hendrickson and Sanluis Corp. in Piedras Negras, Mexico. Some will be moved to a Hendrickson facility in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. The company expects to complete the transfer by September 2001. The Chicago plant has 220 employees.