The small city east of
Dibble could not be reached for comment. Bell said the decision was reached during a 90-day probation period that started after Dibble was hired.
The 890 workers who will lose jobs were all that remained at a site that employed as many as 3,500 as recently as the late 1990s. Formerly a division of Ford Motor Co., Visteon is ridding itself of plants to try to stanch losses. The
Economic development experts say
The city has a good shot at landing parts suppliers to the $550 million Honda Motor Co. assembly plant under construction less than an hour’s drive away in Greensburg, said Tom Miller, a Greenfield economic development consultant who wrote the state’s economic development strategy.
“Those workers would be a valuable asset for a number of companies,” Miller said. Otherwise,
Greg Wathen, executive director of Perry County Development Corp. in southern Indiana, said auto suppliers might avoid hiring many former Visteon workers out of fear they would try to organize a union. Most suppliers to Honda and other Japanese automakers are nonunion.
Nevertheless, Wathen said, consolidators such as former steel magnate Wilbur Ross that are snapping up auto parts suppliers might be interested in using the building. Making a profit while competing against foreign parts suppliers and their attendant low wages and benefits would be difficult, he stressed.
The plant is in “excellent” condition,
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