(TNS) A car parts plant in Elizabethtown is closing and its remaining 450 employees are being laid off.

Akebono Brake Corp., a car brake maker based in Japan with an American headquarters in Michigan, told the Kentucky Career Center Oct. 3 it was implementing a permanent workforce reduction starting Dec. 5 and lasting through year’s end until the plant’s closure.

“The workforce reduction/layoffs are the result of a decline in Akebono’s U.S. Business and are expected to be permanent,” said Plant Manager Chris Cooper in the letter, as is required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN Act.

The company first shared its closure plans in October 2023 after 35 years of operating in Hardin County, which is about 90 minutes west of Lexington.

Akebono Brake Industry Co. P

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