Plastech to take over management of Holland JCI plant

[okiedokie]

Folks, a news article from The Wall Street Journal, just came out an hour ago. Aparently the owners are planning to auction off the three divisions, and are still in talks with JCI over the interior trying to get them to buy that division. http://www.wsj.com

[thirteenfortytwo]

The link above for some reason didn't go directly to the article try this one:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1211245696035...

[byesville]

is anyone a subscriber? could you please post the full article in here....
does anyone from elwood or Romulus have any new info or news going around their place? We heard we would know something within two weeks, but now that article is talking about a June 16th auction.....Also rumors today are that the judge rejected Magnas and Flexigates bids because they were too low

[For Byesville]

This is a typical "Stalking Horse" procedure. They'll take bids up to a deadline and then choose the best. That bidder is then the lead or "Stalking Horse" and has the right of last refusal for bids on the auction date. However, the rules strongly favour the lead bidder with its break fee and due diligence access and this rarely gets into a bidding war. The big player in this is not JCI, as widely reported, but Goldman Sachs, who had almost $300 million of mezzanine debt owed to it by PEP. These guys hold a lot of the cards.

Plastech Plans to Sell
Main Businesses at Auction
By DAVID MCLAUGHLIN
May 20, 2008; Page B4

Auto-parts supplier Plastech Engineered Products Inc. plans to sell its main businesses at an auction and is negotiating a sale of its interiors business to rival parts maker Johnson Controls Inc.

Plastech is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit to approve bidding rules and set a June 16 auction. The company is talking with potential buyers, but hasn't reached any deals.

Plastech said in court papers filed Friday that it has been talking with Johnson Controls, one of its main customers, about a sale of its interiors business. Plastech said its major creditors favor a sale to Johnson Controls.

A spokesman for Johnson Controls couldn't be reached for comment Monday. An attorney for Plastech also couldn't be reached for comment.

Plastech, based in Dearborn, Mich., filed for bankruptcy protection in February in a bid to stop Chrysler LLC from seizing tools used to manufacture parts for Chrysler. The dispute between the two companies remains unresolved.

Like other auto-parts suppliers that have been forced into bankruptcy in recent years, Plastech has also struggled amid rising raw-material costs and production cutbacks by auto makers. Plastech's other customers include Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.

Besides the interiors business, Plastech intends to auction its exteriors business and its carpet-installation business. It will also sell its 51% stake in TrimQuest LLC, a joint venture with Johnson Controls.

If the bankruptcy court approves the June 16 auction, Plastech plans to hold a separate auction for each of the three business units and then hold a final auction for all of its assets.

Plastech has proposed a June 13 deadline for bids. Any buyer that acts as the lead bidder for assets at the auction would be entitled to a breakup fee of 2.5% of the purchase price.

[Obak]

what's the latest?

[LeamExWorker]

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...

[rom2sub]

Some time in the next 24 hours or so we will know who is bidding on what.

[looking for work]

are you looking for work l have found canada.indeed.com is a good site

[looking for work]

this works for canada and u.s. good luck!

[Dane Francis]

www.atlanticblowers.com

[byesville]

so the end is near, magna is taking our rockers and topcaps and we are losing some of the molds we just got recently, i doubt if we make it till the june 16th or whatever it is auction date

i am not sure what they will have left to auction off then, maybe conveyor belts and cardboard boxes?

anything like this going on at elwood or romulus?

[kenton worker]

molds,materials,clips,cardboar d,returnables,customers parts,and clip machines,we see it leaving.We are going,going,almost gone at the kenton plant.We're having inventory next weekend they say next Saturday and Sunday.

[Romulan]

Not much up here a Rom2. They have been scraping out old tooling and junk sitting out in the storage areas. Seen 4 or 5 roll off come and go. Its a fire sale. Several projects have been pulled. As I stated they were fabricating for the RT rocker program but pulled the tooling weeks ago. And then we were going get some parts for the camaro but that was pulled right after some of the tooling was delivered. All is bleak!!! I did here that the new McDonalds is hiring though

[disgruntled]

i am very disapointed in my plants HR and Plant Manager and everyone in the front office, they have been dicking around with us for the past 4 or 5 months, they are all the scum and i hope they all lose everything they have and end up in hell

[shreveport]

Well, at our plant, they are starting to pull tools also. I am not going to worry about it. I'm going to relax for about a month. Then go back to school. The manufacturing business is getting to be so tiring.

[teresa gombeda]

i work at the byesville plant and there telling us the same thing they are telling other plants 2 buyers and all. i we know they are lying to us.we have over 400 workers here that will soon lose there jobs and magna just don't care. they are money hungery i guess. good luck everyone i think we are going to need it!

[byesville]

BYESVILLE -- Employees of the Byesville facility of embattled Plastech Engineered Products Inc. endured some unsettling moments Saturday morning when a group of semi tractor-trailers arrived to load up tooling stocked at the plant.

According to unofficial sources, "five or six semis" from MSA Delivery Service (a Canton, Mich. company) arrived in the morning and crews began "taking molds and fixtures" out of the plant that manufactures exterior parts for the auto industry.

Byesville Police were summoned and remained at the scene for about an hour.

Ptl. Tim Haren was not authorized to discuss the nature of the call.

However, non-police sources said he was summoned to ensure that MSA had authority to take the tooling. Once documentation from the bankruptcy court was reviewed and verified, the rigs were permitted to depart with their cargo.

Production at the plant was not interrupted, said a source who requested anonymity.

According to the source, the tooling that was removed had been brought to the Byesville plant after Plastech closed a North Carolina facility in February.

The source said Dick Snyder, the United Auto Workers representative for this area, was on the scene to ensure that MSA had proper court documentation for taking the tooling.

Jeffersonian efforts to contact Snyder at mid-afternoon Saturday were unsuccessful.

On Friday, representatives of one of the companies bidding on the Byesville plant arrived at the facility and walked around videotaping the operation.

"That had everyone upset," the source said.

The representatives were from the company that has said it would close the Byesville operation, the source added.

The source expressed hope that, when Plastech's operation ceases, some equipment remains in the facility.

"If they leave some of the presses intact, that will make it easier for someone else to start things up."

Plastech, with 416 employees, is the largest employer in the Village of Byesville and the third largest employer in Guernsey County.(The top five employers are Southeastern Med, Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing, Plastech, Colgate-Palmolive and the Cambridge Developmental Center.)

Headquartered in Michigan, Plastech Engineered Products Inc. sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February to prevent Chrysler LLC from seizing the tooling used to manufacture Chrysler parts.

According to reports, the company will auction off all of its business divisions on June 16.

([e-mail])

[Obak]

disgruntled wrote:

i am very disapointed in my plants HR and Plant Manager and everyone in the front office, they have been dicking around with us for the past 4 or 5 months, they are all the scum and i hope they all lose everything they have and end up in hell

I'm sure your Plant Mgr and HR Mgr have been di ck ed around also.

[LEAMINGTON PLANT X WORKER]

TO BYESVILLE PLANT AND EVERY OTHER PLANT
DON'T LET THE BROWN'S UPSET YOU - GET AFTER YOUR UAW - LET THEM TELL YOU WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN BEFORE IT HAPPENS - SO IT'S NOT SO UPSETTING TO YOU AND YOUR COWORKERS - WE ONLY GOT 2 1/2 WEEKS NOTICE - I COULD NOT OF STAYED 60 DAYS LIKE ALL OF YOU ARE - KEEP YOUR HEARS OPEN AND HOLD YOUR HEAD HIGH - GOOD LUCK IN FINDING NEW JOBS - AND MAKE SURE THE UAW GETS YOU EVERYTHING YOU WORKED SO HARD FOR

[chinadoll]

I work at Plastech 1 and I mean that place is A real joke. The asst. Human Resorce girl walks around all day like a hore instead of doing her job. And the management treat blacks like second class citizen meaning if you aint white you aint rite..... that place need to be under new managemen to make it.