SOUTHFIELD, MICH. - Lear Corp. will open a door-panel assembly operation this year in Offranville, France, at the same site that once assembled wire harnesses.
The firm had shut down work in Offranville and shipped the wire assembly work to Eastern Europe, which has cheaper labor costs. The door-panel work will offset 200 lost jobs and support a new contract with a European automaker.
The Southfield company has not disclosed what carmaker it will supply and has not released the cost of changing over the plant for doors.
The operation will not have any molding for now but instead will assemble components produced elsewhere, Lear officials said.