Released on January 7, 2008

Intermet Corp., Ft. Worth, Texas, announced plans to close its Pulaski, Tenn., diecasting facility.

The plant is scheduled to ramp down in phases as current jobs are transferred to other Intermet facilities. All operations will stop in the second half of 2008. The closing is the latest in a series of moves at Intermet; over the past two years, the company has sold its European operations, lowered the number of employees at its Lynchburg, Va., ferrous plant, and reorganized its corporate structure.

Intermet’s Pulaski plant employs 105 in serving the automotive market. The company said in a press release it would assist the released employees.

“Actions such as these are never easy, but they are ones we have to take to continue to ensure the highest levels of service and value to our customers,” said Jeff Mihalic, president and chief executive officer of Intermet.

According to Mihalic, the plant will be closed in response to “overcapacity, both within Intermet and the industry as a whole in the face of a declining production forecast for vehicles in North America.”

Mihalic said the company will work with its customers on a case-by-case basis to meet their demand. Production of rocker arm covers, rack and pinion housings, electronic housings and oil filter adapters, all of which were produced in Pulaski, will be transferred to other Intermet diecasting facilities in Jackson, Tenn., Minneapolis and Palmyra, Mo. Intermet opened the Pulaski facility in 1990.