Closing of remanufacturing facility will eliminate 184 local jobs

Illinois-based ATC Technology Corp. will close its drivetrain manufacturing facility in Springfield next year and relocate its production lines to Oklahoma City.

All 184 hourly and salaried positions at the drivetrain facility, 2707 N. Farm Road 123, will be eliminated as part of the corporate restructuring, which was announced this morning. All hourly personnel - about 80 percent of the staff - and some salaried employees have been offered positions in Oklahoma City, according to a news release. Employees who choose not to relocate will be offered severance packages, according to Chairman and CEO Don Johnson.

"Our plan is to cease operations on June 30," said company spokeswoman Mary Ryan. "It will happen in stages. We don't expect to displace anybody before Feb. 15."

Publicly traded ATC Technology (Nasdaq: ATAC) will move operations at Springfield's drivetrain plant, which remanufactures automatic automobile transmissions, to a company-owned facility in Oklahoma City over the next nine months, according to the release. Ryan said ATC Technology has operated the 200,000-square-foot Springfield facility since 1994 and employed as many 1,500 in the early 2000s.

ATC Technology, which formerly did business as Aaron's Automotive Inc., said the restructuring is "in response to recent significant adverse changes in the business climate in the North American vehicle industry due to the economic slowdown," according to the release.

"The closure of our Springfield facility is another step in a series of cost-cutting moves that began in early 2008 and have continued throughout the year to streamline our North American drivetrain business," Johnson said in the release. "While it is never easy to displace employees, it is critical that we tightly control our costs during these challenging economic conditions, which have significantly impacted our (original equipment manufacturer) customers' businesses that utilize our products for consumer repairs."

Once the closure of the Springfield facility is complete, ATC Technology will have reduced its North American drivetrain work force by about 40 percent since the beginning of 2008, according to the release.

The company expects the restructuring to generate a pre-tax annual savings of about $6 million.

ATC Technology shares opened at $17.20 today and were trading up as of 9 a.m. The 52-week range is $14.32 to $29.86. The company's adjusted per-share earnings for 2008 range from $1.85 to $1.90, according to the release.