A local seating maker is selling a division to a competitor in town and laying off about 80 workers.
Grand Rapids-based American Seating said this afternoon it plans to sell its Architectural Fixed Seating business to Grand Rapids-based Irwin Seating Company.
American Seating signed a letter of intent with Irwin Seating, and the transaction is expected to close in March, pending due diligence.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
American Seating said the sale is the culmination of its ongoing effort to “optimize its operations and resources” to pursue “significant growth opportunities” in the transportation seating market, where it said it’s already a “recognized leader.”
Tom Bush, president and COO at American Seating, said the Architectural Fixed Seating business is “very seasonal in nature” and has “presented an increasing number of operational challenges, which led us to the decision to sell this portion of our business.”
The business is primarily made up of outdoor sports and educational seating projects.
As a result of the sale, American Seating has issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN, notices to about 80 employees in anticipation of a workforce reduction in early 2017.
The company currently employs about 400 people.
American Seating said a portion of the American Seating employees affected by this action may have an opportunity to work for Irwin Seating Company.
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