SANDWICH -- More than 100 employees at an <link _top>aluminum die casting plant in Sandwich will be out of work by the end of the year.
West Irving <link _top>Die Casting, which operates a plant in Sandwich and a plant in Owensboro, Ky., notified employees this week that it was shutting down both operations as early as Dec. 19.
Workers of both plants make <link _top>aluminium die castings for the auto industry, and supply largely to General Motors, said Dave Mack of Morris-Anderson & Associates, who has been named trustee to the business.
According to Mack, the company had been losing money since at least 2006, and had been interested in consolidating its Sandwich and Kentucky plants, but did not have the financial backing to do so.
West Irving had been recently shedding more than $650,000 monthly, Mack said. The company's sales dropped sharply from $60 million annually to $15 million. And in 2008 alone, West Irving had lost $5 million, he said.
