Hayes Lemmerz International Inc. will close its aluminum wheel facility in Gainesville GA by the end of December 2008. The closure is the result of global overcapacity in the light vehicle aluminum wheel market and increasing aluminum wheel imports into North America from low-cost countries. This announcement reflects the company's overall strategy to continue to focus its business on the right products in the right geographic regions.
The Gainesville facility, which began wheel production in July 1994, employs roughly 290 people. Some of the production there will be moved to Hayes Lemmerz' aluminum wheel facility in Mexico.