Troy, Michigan - EMCON Technologies of Troy, Michigan has announced that it will close its Light Vehicle Emissions facility in Concord, near Toronto, Ontario by October 2008, with a loss of 142 jobs. The facility produces exhaust systems for the North American light vehicle market.

Manufacturing in Concord will be relocated to the company’s existing locations in Columbus, Indiana and in Dexter, Missouri. EMCON said the closure was due to overcapacity in the market. The closure will affect 128 production-related employees, who are members of the United Steel Workers union, and 14 salaried employees.

“We regret the closure of the Concord facility and have looked at different alternatives,” said Mike Wood, Vice President Operations North America. “However, due to volume reduction and the balance out of current platform, this type of action becomes necessary to remain competitive in the industry. These actions do not reflect on the performance of the Concord facility. The performance and the level of commitment to our customer from our workforce have been very good. Our employees are highly skilled and have worked hard to support our customer demands.”

The company and the union will commence discussions on the closure process starting the week of August 25.