KENDALLVILLE — Superior Essex will close its Kendallville magnet-wire plant on West Mitchell Street.
WPTA-TV and WISE-TV in Fort Wayne reported the plant closure will occur in the first quarter of 2016 and will affect all 52 workers at the facility. The stations reported the closure is related to Superior Essex’s sale of its fine wire assets to Elektrisola, a privately owned company based in Germany that makes fine and ultrafine copper wire.
The stations reported Superior Essex plants in Fort Wayne and Columbia City are not affected by the sale.
Local government and economic development officials learned of the plant closure Wednesday. The News Sun was referred to Anna Basista, vice president of human resources for Essex Group Inc. at Superior Essex’s Fort Wayne operations, for information about the Kendallville plant closure. Messages left with Basista were not returned as of The News Sun’s deadline Thursday.
As of Thursday, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development had not received a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter informing the state about the closure.
In 2013, Superior Essex was granted a 10-year abatement for $2.4 million in new equipment installed at its plant at 800 W. Mitchell St.
At the time, the company said it was adding a magnet-wire oven to produce a new line of copper wire. When the Kendallville City Council approved the abatement, the plant reported having 61 full-time workers, and it expected to add another 20 full-time jobs.
The Kendallville plant makes copper and aluminum wire for Superior Essex’s magnet-wire division.
Superior Essex is headquartered in Atlanta. In 2008, the company was purchased by LS Cable & System, which is based in Seoul, South Korea.