Lear to close 2 Detroit plants in footprint consolidation move

Seating and electronics supplier Lear Corp. is moving to permanently close two manufacturing plants in Detroit after expanding its new plant at the former Cadillac Stamping site.

The company will cease operations at its Davison Plant and Nevada Plant by June 30, according to a pair of notices filed with the state of Michigan, dated Monday.

The move will impact 558 employees, but the company has “offered to transfer and to continue to employ nearly all of the affected employees” at the new plant, according to the letters. The offer applies to UAW Local 155-represented employees, salaried employees and hourly employees.

“For those employees who decline Lear’s offer or who do not receive an offer, the layoffs are expected to be permanent,” said the letters.

Lear did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for more details.

Earlier this year, the company signed on to take the full 684,000-square-foot space developed by Riverside, Mo.-based NorthPoint Development LLC on the former Cadillac Stamping site, near the company’s soon-to-be shuttered plants at 6555 E. Davison and 6501 E. Nevada.

The supplier started just-in-time seating operations at the new plant late last year, supplying General Motors Factory Zero on the Detroit-Hamtramck border.

The new plant was the latest in a series of planned local expansions for Lear, which ranks among the world’s largest automotive suppliers with $20.9 billion in revenue in 2022.

In addition to the Detroit plant, Lear said last year it plans to open an $80 million plant and create hundreds of jobs in Independence Township, where it will make battery disconnect units for all full-size SUVs and trucks built on GM’s Ultium EV platform through 2030.

Elsewhere in Michigan, Lear is plotting $32.5 million of investment, including at its Sterling Heights and Traverse City plants.