Navistar shuts its vintage Eastside foundry

Navistar shut its Indianapolis foundry for good Tuesday, ending more than 70 years of manufacturing at the sprawling Eastside plant.

The closing put all but 20 of the remaining 160 unionized and non-union employees out of work.

“It’s a sad day,” said Greg Essex, president of United Auto Workers Local 226, which represented most workers at the plant. “This is what is happening to the industrial part of our economy. It’s just hard to see this place go when we know what it is capable of.”

Local 226, which once represented more than 2,000 workers at the plant when it also produced truck engines, is left with only 20 active members. They will keep working at a used truck reconditioning center, run by Navistar on one of the site’s huge parking lots.

Company spokesman Steve Schrier said Navistar hasn’t decided what will happen to the site, which includes the massive foundry with overhead cranes and multiple furnaces and sprawls over more than 60 acres.

He called the closing “a difficult decision because of its impact on the many great people who’ve been part of our company.”

The foundry, which made engine blocks and heads, stopped pouring last week, Essex said. Workers spent the past week cleaning up, he said.

The unionized workers approved a closing package that included severance benefits, Schrier said. They also are eligible for aid, including relocation and retraining payments, under the federal Trade Adjustment Act, which helps workers hurt by foreign trade.

“That provides some hope for some people,” Essex said.

Lisle, Ill.-based Navistar (formerly known as International Harvester) announced the closing late last year.

The truck and engine maker said closing the old foundry would slice its operating costs by $13 million a year. It said it will turn to suppliers to acquire the engine castings it needs.

The closing came despite a 2011 city rescue plan that offered nearly $1 million in property tax abatements if Navistar invested $19 million to upgrade the foundry, which operated under the name PurePower.

The engine plant, which once supplied engines for Ford pickups, closed in 2009.

Call Star reporter Jeff Swiatek at (317)444-6483. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffSwiatek.