Highly rated auto plants set to close
Some of the most productive automobile factories, as rated by an influential study released Thursday, are closing down or losing large numbers of jobs in the motor industry's upheaval. Among the factories scheduled to close are a General Motors minivan plant in Doraville, Georgia, and the Ford Motor Company's midsize pickup truck plant in St. Paul, both of which ranked first in their segments in this year's Harbour Report on automotive productivity. The top-rated full-size pickup plant, a Ford factory in Norfolk, Virginia, closed a year ago, showing that even the best-run plants are not immune to cuts. Two of the top three large SUV plants are closing, as is the second-ranked midsize SUV plant. The plant that ranked fourth over all, where Chrysler builds compact cars and crossovers in Belvidere, Illinois, recently lost one of its three shifts.
See "Highly rated auto plants set to close", Nick Bunkley, International Herald Tribune, June 5, 2008