Difficult Times For Amcast

Wheel deliveries between Amcast and General Motors have been temporarily restored following the component manufacturer’s second chapter 11 filing this year. The move is said to have averted a shut down at several GM assembly plants. Either way, court documents presented in Amcast’s bankruptcy filing report that it stopped all deliveries of previously ordered wheels to GM on 30 November, the day before Amcast filed for emergency bankruptcy protection. That move came after talks designed to modify business contracts between the two companies broke down.

“The direct economic damages resulting from such a shutdown would be in millions of dollars per day”” Mark W Fischer, GM’s director of supply risk management said in the statement. “Moreover, a potentially significant portion of jobs of the thousands of workers employed by…(10) plants would be jeopardised, as well as the jobs of employees all the way down the supplier chain.”

“The intention at this time would be to continue with Amcast in orderly wind-down activities,” GM spokesman Tom Hill told reporters, adding: “and then source the business to other suppliers.”

Amcast makes wheels for cars and trucks at facilities in Fremont, Franklin and Gas City, employing about 700 people altogether. The wheels are shipped to 10 GM assembly plants where they are installed on vehicles including Corvettes, Hummers and Cadillacs, according to court documents.