BCS Automotive. Sprawling complex at 5727 Industrial Park Road adjacent to the Winona airport. Known to old-timers as TRW. Image: Steve Lunde
Auto parts manufacturer shifting wholly to imports
WINONA, Minn. – The BCS Automotive Interface Solutions factory is shutting down and shifting to Chinese suppliers. Some 120 hourly and salaried employees will be laid off starting in July. The company, based in Roseville, revealed the closing in a legally required notification to the state Employment and Economic Development Department. On the notification: On the the form the box: “Mass layoff” was checked. Separately the plant manager, Aaron MacLennan, sent a letter to employees that layoffs would be permanent. Some employees, represented by UAW Local 958. will have seniority rights and bumping rights, but it seemed this would be only in a six-month phase-down,
China transition
BCS contracts with automotive manufacturers to supply components through competitive bidding. Its parts have been a mix of domestic and imported products. Imports have been from China, mostly from Lelon Electronic in the highly industrialized Jiansu province. Imports have included sound and visual signaling products, brakes, and internal combustion piston parts.