Work transfer costing NE Indiana factory 175 jobs

BERNE, Ind. — An auto parts supplier is transferring production from a northeastern Indiana factory to plants to Tennessee and Kentucky, a move that the company says will at least temporarily put up to 175 people out of work.

Ficosa North America has told state officials that it will begin in September moving mirror production from the factory in Berne. The company says it expects to prepare the Berne factory for other products, but says that the layoffs could last six months or more.

Plant manager Wade Bearman tells The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne that details and timing of the incoming business haven't been decided.

The factory in the town about 30 miles south of Fort Wayne is owned by Spanish-based The Ficosa Group and has been making side-view mirrors.