April 25, 2006 -- According to local news reports, Indiana’s Fort Wayne Foundry will begin phasing out production at its Pontiac Street location in Fort Wayne. The company operates two foundries in Fort Wayne, as well as a machine shop, and a third foundry in Columbia City, IN.

Fort Wayne Foundry produces aluminum sand-castings for automotive customers, including General Motors.

The Pontiac Street operation is the only location to be closed, according to the reports.

Tommie Lockett, president of the local chapter of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International Union representing workers at the two foundries in the city, explained to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that the company will downsize in stages over 12 months beginning late in May.

According to a company statement, Fort Wayne Foundry will no longer be producing Gen IV water-pump housings because the product “has reached the end of its life cycle.”

“After the closure,” the statement continues, “the remaining production contracts will keep the other Fort Wayne Foundry facilities operating at or near production capacity for the next several years, with some of the contracts reaching into the 2010 model year.”