Alcoa shutting down NE Indiana factory next year

AUBURN, Ind. (AP) - Alcoa Inc. has decided to shut down a northeastern Indiana factory after cutting hundreds of jobs there over the past decade.

The company announced Tuesday that the Auburn factory will end operations in March. The factory has 25 hourly and 18 salaried workers.

The Pittsburgh-based company says the closing decision is part of its efforts to streamline operations.

United Steelworkers local president Chris Spillers tells The Star of Auburn that workers expected the factory might be closed because it was a large facility with little work.

The Journal Gazette reports the auto and defense parts plant had nearly 400 workers in 2005. Alcoa acquired the factory in the city about 40 miles north of Fort Wayne as part of a 2000 merger with Reynolds Metals Co.