PLYMOUTH, Mich., May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Metaldyne Corporation, an Asahi Tec company, announced today it will close its Farmington Hills, Mich., plant by April 2008 to adjust for the excess capacity in its plants caused by production cuts from its North American customers.

"This was a difficult but necessary decision," said Tom Chambers, Metaldyne president and COO. "The Farmington Hills workforce has shown a great commitment to quality, safety and manufacturing excellence and I want to commend them. Unfortunately, we must adjust our capacity as our customers reduce their production schedules."

The 112,000 square-foot facility has 170 employees and produces chassis and powertrain products for several customers. These products will be moved to other Metaldyne facilities.

"We are assessing the competitiveness of our plants to see which operations can best absorb this work," said Chambers. "We are working closely with the UAW, which represents Farmington Hills, on this process."

Last month Metaldyne announced plans to discontinue operations at its Greenville, NC, plant by December of this year. That work is being moved to Metaldyne's chassis facility in Whitsett (Greensboro), NC. Greensboro is represented by the UAW.

"Metaldyne must be structured to be agile and efficient," said Chambers. "These moves will help ensure our competitiveness in the global marketplace and will help us serve our customers more efficiently."

About Asahi Tec

Headquartered in Shizuoka, Japan, Asahi Tec primarily designs, manufactures and sells ductile iron cast auto parts for truck and construction machinery OEMs, aluminum casting parts for truck and passenger car OEMs and aluminum wheels for automobile OEMs. Asahi Tec also designs, manufactures and sells environmental systems, equipment and development technologies used by local governments and municipalities and electrical hardware and equipment used by electricity generators.

Its subsidiary, Metaldyne, is a leading global designer and supplier of metal-based components, assemblies and modules for transportation related powertrain and chassis applications including engine, transmission/transfer case, wheel-end and suspension, axle and driveline, and noise and vibration control products to the motor vehicle industry. It is headquartered in Plymouth, Mich.

Asahi Tec has annual revenues of approximately $2.7 billion and employs approximately 10,000 employees at 55 facilities in 15 countries.

For more information, please visit www.asahitec.co.jp and www.metaldyne.com

Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this press release regarding Metaldyne's strategy, future operations, financial condition, expected results and costs, new business, estimated revenues and losses, prospects and plans are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations, estimates and assumptions, and its views about the Company's future performance, its financial condition, its markets and many other matters that are based on information available as of the date hereof.

Important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions in the markets in which we operate, industry-based factors and factors specific to us such as: our high degree of leverage; substantial restrictions in our credit facilities and other debt; consolidation or declining financial condition of our customers; adequacy of our liquidity to meet our obligations and grow our business; seasonal fluctuations in our business; inability to meet future capital requirements; our industry's cyclicality and highly competitive nature; inability to lower costs and obtain favorable contracts to offset the industry model of declining component prices over time; inability to expand into new product lines; inability to achieve profitability given our recent net losses; availability and affordability of raw materials; changing technology could place us at a competitive disadvantage; inability to establish manufacturing capabilities in lower-cost areas; inability to quickly replace any diminished or lost business due to the length of the sales process; lack of binding purchase commitments from customers; costs could potentially exceed estimates used in pricing our products; higher research and development costs may not be recouped; business alliances may not produce satisfactory results; customer consolidation resulting in increased difficulty to compete; our employee benefit obligations may negatively impact future liquidity; inability to protect our intellectual property rights; environmental compliance obligations and liabilities; risks related to international sales; inability to meet obligations for any product liability and warranty claims; labor stoppages at our facilities or those of our customers; failure of anticipated outsourcing due to union considerations; and dependence on key personnel and relationships.

We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward- looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, or changes to future results over time.

Source: Metaldyne Corporation