Plastics equipment from a shuttered GE Appliances plant in Bloomington, Ind., will be auctioned off during the first day of a three-day event next month.
GE Appliances, now owned by China's Haier company, closed the plant on Aug. 26 due to a drastic dropoff in demand for refrigerators made there. The company said demand for its side-by-side refrigerators had fallen by 78 percent since 2008.
Branford Group will hold an online auction of the site's assets starting Nov. 28. The first day will feature seven Cincinnati Milacron injection presses with clamps from 700 to 1,000 tons, four Kiefel inline thermoformers, two Davis-Standard sheet extrusion lines and a variety of auxiliary equipment. Metal stamping and other equipment will be sold online the next two days. The 1 million square foot facility will be listed for sale with a real estate agent.
GE Appliances was acquired by Chinese appliance major Quingdao Haier Co. Ltd. in January. GE Appliances had upgraded its manufacturing operations in the years prior to the sale. Louisville, Ky., is the business's main appliance manufacturing complex.
The Bloomington factory eliminated 130 jobs in 2013. The closure in August cut the remaining 329 positions. GE Appliances offered severance packages to the workers, members of Local 2249 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.