Updated:
A month after workers learned the Cooper-Standard Automotive hose plant was likely to close, the company
made the news official.
The Novi, Mich.-based company announced this morning that "it will permanently close" the
facility over the next 12 months.
The action would put more than 200 employees out of work.
The company cited "overcapacity in the North American automotive industry" for the decision.
The plant manufactures low-pressure hoses used in new cars for a variety of manufacturers.
According to the company: "The decision follows an extensive review of the company’s current hose
manufacturing capacity, as well as future market trends and forecasts for vehicle production rates in
North America. As a result of this analysis, the Cooper Standard management team determined that there
is not sufficient production volume to continue operating all three of its North American hose
facilities."
Work done in Bowling Green will be moved to Cooper-Standard plants in Mt. Sterling, Ky. and Atlacomulco,
Mexico.
John Knauss, an international representative for the United Steelworkers, said that Kentucky offered an
attractive package of tax incentives to the company.
Knauss said union members made the concessions that the company told them were necessary to keep the
plant in Bowling Green, but that turned out not to be enough.
"Kentucky is way ahead of the game," said Bowling Green Mayor John Quinn. He said several other
facilities in the city are considering expansion "but we are in competition there again with
Kentucky."
All the city itself can offer is a deal on electric rates.
"Right now our concern is for the employees," Quinn said.
The hurt those workers feel, said Tom Blaha, executive director of the Wood County Economic Development
Commission, will be spread throughout the community. Those people will not be spending as much in local
stores and otherwise putting money into the local community.
"Something like this happening is economic undevelopment," Blaha said. "The impact will be
tremendous."
He said officials now need to pay "as close attention as we can to the other Cooper-Standard
plant," the seal plant on North Main Street.
"We’d like to hold onto it," Blaha said.
"This is an especially difficult day for the employees of Cooper Standard and the Bowling Green
community," said State Rep. Randy Gardner. "We must all do everything we can to encourage a
new manufacturer to help keep these productive workers in the plant."
He said both company officials and union representatives have expressed "a strong willingness to
find a new owner, so we can utilize this facility to keep jobs in Bowling Green."
(Sentinel City Editor Hal Brown contributed to this story.)