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TI Group Automotive to Close Auto Parts Plant in Iowa

16 November 1999

TI Group Automotive to Close Auto Parts Plant in Iowa

    MAQUOKETA, Iowa, Nov. 16-- TI Group Automotive Systems
announced today that it will close its automotive parts manufacturing plant in
Maquoketa.
    Production is being phased out, and the plant will be closed in March,
2000, Jim Davis, President of TI Group Automotive Systems' North American
announced at the company's headquarters in the Detroit area.
    The plant employs 60 people and supplies automotive customers with fluid
carrying assemblies for air conditioning and heater systems.
    "We regret the need to close the Maquoketa plant, because it is a good
plant with an excellent work force," Davis said.  "However, the demands of our
customers require us to consolidate this production to larger facilities which
can serve our automotive customers more efficiently."
    The company will provide transition programs and benefits to the plant's
employees in order to help them obtain new employment according to Dennis
Starke, plant manager.  The unemployment rate in the area is extremely low and
we will contact other local employers who are in need of good employees to
help in the transition, he said.
    The Maquoketa plant was opened in 1991 by the S&H Engineering and
Fabricating, which was acquired by TI Group in 1998.
    TI Group Automotive Systems is a global supplier of brake and air
conditioning fluid carrying components and complete fuel storage and delivery
systems, combining the long-established automotive suppliers Bundy and Walbro.
With annual global revenues of more than $2.2 billion and 20,000 employees at
150 facilities around the world, it is a business of TI Group plc, one of the
world's leading specialized engineering companies.  TI Group, with
headquarters in the UK, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and operates
globally with more than 40,000 people at more than 400 manufacturing and
customer service facilities in more than 45 countries.
    Further information about TI Group and its businesses can be found on the
Internet at http://www.tigroup.com