Zeledyne plant may close this summer

Zeledyne’s Tulsa glass plant could be shut down this summer if the company doesn’t find a buyer.

Workers at the former Ford Auto Glass plant have been informed by Zeledyne that the company’s lone customer will stop taking orders sometime this summer and work will cease.

“If a buyer isn’t found, employees will be laid off,” said Della DiPietro, a spokeswoman for the company.

The struggling plant has about 300 employees, down from more than 500 when it was bought by local investor Robert Price in 2007.

The company doesn’t have a last day of business, but Zeledyne is not actively seeking more contracts for the facilities.

Zeledyne ceased glass production at the plant last year and laid off more than 200 people, but more than 300 employees were kept on to cut and finish glass.

The company also has a plant in Juarez, Mexico. Zeledyne sold its Lebanon, Tenn., plant earlier this year to a Japanese company.

The plant has been a major manufacturer in Tulsa since Ford Motor Co. opened it in 1974. Ford spun off the glass division in 2000, but the subsequent recession and decrease in automotive demand squeezed the factory out of contention.

Price later bought it, hoping to invest about $100 million to upgrade the factory.

As late as 2009 the company invested $4 million to build a new glass cutting line and in 2008 it opened a $30 million furnace and float line.

However, with the announcement Zeledyne has decided that it no longer wants to remain in the glass business.

The company is looking for a buyer for the 1.4 million-square-foot plant and DiPietro said there has been some interest as the economy improves.