Aaron?s Automotive moving all remanufacuring to Springfield

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Aaron's Automotive Products is closing its Joplin remanufacturing plant and will move as many as 245 jobs to Springfield.|ret||ret||tab|

Aftermarket Technology Corp. (ATC) in Westmont, Ill., which has owned Aaron Automotive since 1994, an-nounced it would cease production at the Aaron's Automotive plant in Joplin by Aug. 1. |ret||ret||tab|

All but five of the 250 workers at the Joplin plant have been offered jobs in Springfield, said Mary Ryan, vice president of communication and investor relations for ATC. Aaron's Automotive currently employees approximately 1,000 people.|ret||ret||tab|

"It is certainly our intent to work with all our folks from the Joplin facility, and we hope that every one of them will be able to make the move and stay with us," said Ryan. "Our first loyalty is to them."|ret||ret||tab|

Employees who work at the Aaron's Automotive plant in Joplin have until mid-May to notify the company about whether they plan to continue working for the company at the Springfield facility which is located at 2600 N. Westgate Ave. Ryan does not have a firm number on how many employees have accepted the company's offer to transfer to Spring-field. |ret||ret||tab|

It also is unclear whether the Spring-field plant will hire any additional workers if most of the workers in Joplin decide not to transfer.|ret||ret||tab|

Although the Springfield plant will handle all of the remanufacturing operations, the Joplin facility will continue to be used as a warehouse, Ryan said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Products|ret||ret||tab|

Both the Joplin and Springfield Aaron's Automotive plants remanufacture transmissions, torque converters and engine long blocks for DaimlerChrysler, one of the world's leading automotive, transportation and services companies. DaimlerChrysler passenger car brands are marketed under the names Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge. |ret||ret||tab|

Commercial vehicles are produced under the Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, Setra, Thomas Built Buses, Orion and American La-France brands. |ret||ret||tab|

In February 2001, Aaron's Automotive laid off 160 employees from its Spring-field location in response to Daimler-Chrysler's plans to restructure its business. At the time, the Joplin plant was unaffected. |ret||ret||tab|

Ryan, however, said that the decision to close the Aaron's Automotive plant in Joplin has nothing to do with Daimler-Chrysler. |ret||ret||tab|

"Our decision to move the entire operation under one roof has nothing whatsoever to do with our business with Daim-lerChrysler because that business remains pretty steady," said Ryan. "It was strictly an internal decision."|ret||ret||tab|

About a year ago, ATC began examining ways to streamline operations and cut waste. The company moved away from the traditional assembly-line production methods and began implementing production methods which stress reduced inventory, cost reduction and additional employee involvement. |ret||ret||tab|

"We spent some significant resources, both from a labor standpoint and dollars, to truly upgrade our facility in Spring-field and make it a more employee-friendly environment," said Ryan. "We're also very actively moving forward adopting lean production methods, and so we've been able to free up a lot of floor space in our Springfield facility. It just made sense from a production standpoint, since we're serving one customer exclusively to put all of that under one roof."|ret||ret||tab|

According to Ryan, only 100,000 square feet out of 263,000 square feet at the Aaron's Automotive plant in Joplin was being used for remanufacturing. When the Springfield plant began implementing lean production methods, ap-proximately 50,000 square feet of floor space was freed up. |ret||ret||tab|

That, combined with the fact that the Springfield plant runs two shifts, enabled ATC to consolidate operations at the Joplin and Springfield plants under one roof, Ryan said. |ret||ret||tab|

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The parent company|ret||ret||tab|

Aaron's Automotive Products is one of several businesses owned by ATC. Other business units owned by ATC include Component Remanufacturing Specialists Inc., Autocraft Industries, Autocraft El-ectronics, ATC Logistics, Autocraft Material Recovery and Autocraft Indus-tries UK. |ret||ret||tab|

According to Ryan, none of ATC's other businesses have been affected by changes at the Aaron's Automotive plants in Springfield and Joplin. |ret||ret||tab|

ATC, which was founded in 1994, is a leading remanufacturer and distributor of drivetrain products. |ret||ret||tab|

The company also provides customers with value-added warehouse and distribution services, returned material reclamation and disposition services and remanufactured electronic components.[[In-content Ad]]