Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

COLUMBIANA – A Columbiana foundry that employs more than 100 people will close soon.

Grede notified employees at the Columbiana foundry on June 9 of the impending closure of the facility.

“The decision was based on market conditions, including the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Jennifer Dudley, vice president and general counsel for Grede Holdings LLC.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to provide at least 60 calendar days notice of a plant closing.

The WARN Act notice was given June 9, so the foundry will likely close in August.

Though Grede declined to provide the number of employees at the Columbiana foundry, the WARN Act only applies to entities employing more than 100 people.

Employees were given the opportunity to apply for open positions at other facilities, Dudley said.

Grede acquired the Columbiana facility through a predecessor entity, Citation Corporation, in 1984, Dudley said.

The foundry produces castings for the commercial vehicle market.

With a corporate headquarters in Southfield, Michigan, Grede also operates foundries in Biscoe, North Carolina; Brewton; Browntown, Wisconsin; Iron Mountain, Michigan; Liberty, Wisconsin; New Castle, Indiana; Reedsburg, Wisconsin; and St. Cloud, Minnesota; as well as machining locations in Biscoe, North Carolina; and Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin; and a foam pattern location in Bessemer.