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Reprinted with permission from
The Courier=Times Online
GKN Automotive’s plans to close two of its operations elsewhere could work to the advantage of Person County by opening up additional jobs at GKN’s plant here within the next two years.
GKN officials announced on June 28 that the company will close its automotive driveline facilities in Sanford and in Columbia, South Carolina, a move that together would idle 477 employees.
The company’s announcement said that the Sanford and Columbia operations would be moved to GKN’s plants in Alamance County and here in Person County.
The moves from both plants targeted for closing are slated to begin in the third quarter of this year.
The close of the South Carolina facility is expected by the end of 2006 whereas the shutdown of the Sanford operations is targeted by year-end 2007, the announcement said.
According to GKN, the Sanford and Columbia closures “are expected to create jobs in GKN Driveline Alamance and GKN Driveline Roxboro … over the next two years, assuming favorable market conditions.”
In an interview this week, Lee King, plant manager at GKN’s Person County facility, said that at this point, “I would hesitate to give any numbers,” as to how many jobs will be added here as a result of the move.
“Really, at this time it’s difficult for us to say. We’re in the process of making those plans … to start that transition, but it’s a large effort and it’s going to take some time,” King said.
King acknowledged that while the move will entail some significant changes in the production operations, no physical expansion of the plant is planned.
The GKN operation here will be adding operations from the South Carolina facility, King said, which means the plant will be producing the longer automotive drive shaft that generally extends from transmission to rear axle, as well as continuing to produce its current “half shaft,” which is a shorter shaft typically used on all-wheel-drive vehicles.
King said, “The Roxboro plant is, I feel like, pretty healthy, and we’re going to do our part to support the business. Person County is a good place for us to be.”
Glen Newsome, executive director of the Person County Economic Development Commission, told The Courier-Times earlier that his conversations with company officials suggest that while the GKN facility here would “experience some growth,” the “specific job and investment numbers have yet to be finalized or quantified.”
Newsome added that the county looked forward to working with GKN in connection with the move, and he voiced appreciation for what he said were “the many contributions the company makes to the economy of our community.”
He called GKN “an excellent corporate citizen,” noting the company is one of Person County’s top three employers.
As rationale for its decision to close the Sanford and Columbia, S. C. plants, GKN cited “intense competition, pricing pressures from customers, increasing raw material costs and a fluctuation in product demand.”
GKN Precision Forming, a facility the company operates in Sanford separate from its driveline plant, will remain open.