Automotive supplier Dryden Molders Inc., which abruptly shut down Aug. 31, idling more than 30 presses and putting 200 people out of work, is returning tooling to customers and preparing for an equipment auction. Dryden of Moraine, Ohio, said it decided to cease production and liquidate its assets after bank financing was cut off.
In an Aug. 31 letter to creditors, Dryden said it had ``no other alternative'' but to shut down after National City Bank in Columbus, Ohio, informed the molder that it no longer would fund loan arrangements.
Dryden said it owed the bank $4.7 million. The liquidation is expected to bring at most $3.3 million. Dryden said it is unlikely any money will be left over to pay unsecured debts.
Much of the customer-owned tooling installed at the Moraine plant has been returned. An auction has been set for Oct. 26, the company said. Dryden's 30-plus injection presses have clamping forces of 50-400 tons. Most are 110-170 tons.
John Boustead, president of Dryden since April, did not return Plastics News' phone calls. However, he told the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News Dryden had been operating in the red.
``The company has not been profitable for a year and our banker decided that it could no longer support our losses,'' he said.
When Dryden's employees arrived for work Aug. 31, the Daily News reported, they found the factory doors locked and a no-tice posted: `` ... we regret to inform you that you have been terminated. We sincerely apologize for this impersonal notice but under the circumstances this is the most appropriate means of notification.''
Dryden had sales of $12 million last year. Two of its biggest customers were Delphi Interiors & Lighting, a General Motors Corp. unit, and Whirlpool Corp.
A Dryden employee, who declined to be identified, said the company was just beginning to show signs of a turnaround. That made the shutdown all the more difficult to accept.
``They were really starting to put the company together,'' the employee said. ``We made money in August, so this was really a shocker.''
