Intermet Closing Georgia Plant

Intermet Corp. announced plans to close its Columbus Machining Plant in Midland, Ga., during the first quarter of 2005. The company said the closure is necessary to rationalize excess production capacity and reduce costs.

The facility machines ductile-iron and light-metal castings for the automotive industry. I

“This is a necessary decision for the company to make at this time,” said Chairman and CEO Gary F. Ruff. “The plant has been operating at a much-reduced capacity with very high overhead costs.”

Ruff said that Intermet’s objective for the future is to consolidate machining and assembly operations into dedicated areas in its casting facilities, as is presently the case with the company’s Light Metal Group. “This allows for better utilization of lean manufacturing and one-piece flow concepts. As such, it is our intention to move certain strategic Columbus Machining programs into other Intermet facilities, such as the Columbus Foundry. However, some work will be outsourced.”