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Lear To Shut Down Tampa Plant In 2009

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By MICHAEL SASSO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2008

TAMPA - The Tampa Bay area will lose 325 jobs and one of its higher-profile manufacturers next year when auto parts maker Lear Corp. shuts its Tampa manufacturing plant.

Southfield, Mich.-based Lear told its Tampa employees Monday that it will begin scaling back the plant's operations in March and shut down by September of next year, said Andrea Puchalsky, the company's director of corporate communications.

Lear employs 249 hourly employees and 76 salaried employees at its West Waters Avenue plant, which makes electrical components for automobile interiors, she said.

Puchalsky had no immediate information on whether employees would be offered severance packages or offered jobs in other Lear facilities.

The company is shutting a similar plant in Zanesville, Ohio, and cutting workers at a seat manufacturing facility in Hammond, Ind., she said. Lear has operated the Tampa plant since 1999, when it acquired it in a purchase of United Technologies Automotive.

Overall, Lear operates 215 facilities around the world and employs 91,000 people.

In 2005, it started a major restructuring process that included job cuts. The restructuring was to have been completed by now, but a massive slowdown in the automotive industry forced Lear to continue restructuring, she said.

According to Lear's latest financial report, it makes a majority of its sales and operating profit from U.S.-based automakers, which have seen their market share plummet in recent years. Also, a significant share of Lear's North American profit came from light trucks and big SUVs, which are struggling. The company is trying to make inroads with Asian automakers, the report said.

Lear's profit for the quarter that ended June 28 was $18.3 million, down from $123.6 million in the same quarter of 2007. Sales fell to $3.98 billion in the quarter from $4.16 billion in the same period a year ago.

The loss of the Tampa plant will hurt particularly because Lear made high-profile products for big car companies, said Bruce Register, corporate business development manager for the Hillsborough County Economic Development. That differs from many local manufacturers that are less well-known and make components that are more obscure than car parts, Register said.

"I thought the Lear plant was a really nice asset to have," he said.

Despite Lear's plan to shut down the Tampa operation, the state still may contribute $700,000 in economic development incentives toward a road project outside Lear's manufacturing plant.

Several years ago, the state and Hillsborough County offered Lear an incentive package if the company would expand in Tampa. Lear was to receive tax refunds from the state for creating 137 new high-paying jobs under the state's Qualified Target Industries program. The company failed to fulfill the program's requirements and never got the state money, Register said.

However, the state also offered to contribute $700,000 for road work outside Lear's plant that would improve its entrance and exit. Register said the project probably will move forward even though Lear is shutting down because too much work and too many commitments have been made to stop.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865 or msasso@tampatrib.com.

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