Clarios, formerly Johnson Controls, located 700 N. Broad Street in Middletown, told their employees Monday that their plant would be closing.
The company, which makes and distributes automobile batteries, received millions of dollars in state subsidies along with a ten-year property tax abatement from the town of Middletown when it expanded there in 2011.
In May of last year, Clarios announced that they were acquired by Brookfield Business Partners which operates as a global energy storage business generating $8 billion in revenues with more than 16,000 employees, 56 facilities worldwide, and 130 years of expertise. In their press release, Clarios said that will build on its leading position in-vehicle battery technologies – producing one-third of the automotive industry’s total output per year – while more aggressively exploring ways to meet the fast-growing energy storage needs of tomorrow.
In response to an email from First State Update, Clarios issued the following statement regarding the plant’s closure.
“As part of our ongoing focus on providing best-in-class service to customers, while optimizing and modernizing our operations, we will be streamlining our U.S. manufacturing network through the closure of our Middletown assembly plant in November 2020.
We will continue to have a significant presence in the region, including through our Middletown Distribution Center which remains vital to serving our customers across the Northeast.
We intend to offer opportunities to impacted employees at our Middletown Distribution Center and other locations or, in limited cases where opportunities are not available, we will compensate fairly.
The decision to permanently close a plant is not one we made lightly, but we are confident that it is necessary to strengthen our position as a global leader in advanced battery technologies”, said company spokesperson Aimee Iverson.
The Middletown facility is believed to employ approximately 200 employees.
This is a developing story
