Springfield plant delays closing

Interconnect Technologies, 4811 W. Kearney St., had some additional work for a customer that must be finished before the plant closes, according to Jack Martin Jr., director of public relations for Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. Northrop Grumman is the Springfield plant’s Los Angeles-based parent company that in May said it would shut down the facility because of declining business.

Most employees at the circuit-board-manufacturer will work until Aug. 31, Martin said. About 24 workers will remain – in some cases, until Nov. 16 – to run the plant’s employee resource center and prepare for the closing.

Interconnect opened in 1963 and came under Litton Inc. in 1964. Northrop, a $30 billion global defense and technology company, acquired Interconnect when it purchased Litton in 2001.

Northrop previously operated a second division – now called Simclar Interconnect Technologies – at the West Kearney facility but sold it to Scottish company Simclar Group Ltd. in 2006. Simclar Interconnect moved to Ozark earlier this year.