Tribar Technologies in Wixsom, Michigan, announced that it has been sold and that its Adept Plastic Finishing division will close.
According to a filing with the Michigan Department of Labor, the closure will result in the layoff of 188 employees.
Adept was a supplier of injection molding, chrome plating, and painting services for plastic components. In 2015, HCI Equity Partners in Washington, D.C., purchased it and merged it with Tribar Manufacturing.
Tribar supplies high-profile vehicle badge assemblies and two-shot molded components, such as door seals and liftgate reveals.
The layoff announcement sent to employees did not say which company purchased Tribar.
“We are writing to inform you that there will be a mass layoff on June 8, 2025, as a result of the shutdown of Adept Plastic Finishing, Inc.’s facilities located at 29835 Beck Road, 29883 Beck Road, and 48668 Alpha Drive in Wixom, Michigan,” wrote Bob Brewster, Director of Human Resources at Tribar Technologies. “We regret to inform you that your position will be eliminated by June 7, 2025. Your layoff is expected to be permanent. You are not entitled to any job bumping rights.”
Brewster also sent a letter to the Michigan Department of Labor informing the state of the layoffs.
“This letter is to inform you that Tribar Technologies has been sold,” Brewster wrote. “The purchasing company has chosen to consolidate Tribar operations at the present Howell, MI location. The Wixom MI site will be ramped down over the next 60 days. The buyer will be interviewing Tribar, both hourly and salaried employees, for employment opportunities.”
Tribar made national headlines in 2022 when an employee discharged approximately 10,000 gallons of insufficiently treated wastewater from a holding tank at Plant 5. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Michigan, the employee “disabled approximately 460 alarms and discharged the wastewater to the Wixom sanitary sewer system and ultimately to the Wixom POTW without completing the treatment necessary to remove chromium from the wastewater, as required by Tribar’ s Industrial Pretreatment Program Permit.”
In December 2024, Tribar Technologies pleaded guilty to negligently violating a pretreatment standard under the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1317(d) and 1319(c)(1)(A)). It was fined $200,000 and placed on probation.
Visit https://www.tribar.com.
