By June 8, 188 workers at two automotive finishing plants in Wixom will be out of a job, the latest in a depressing trend of Michigan businesses closing up shop.

In an April 9 notice to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Affairs, Tribar Technologies announced it will close two facilities in Wixom, and consolidate operations in Howell.

“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,” the notice read.

“We regret to inform you that your position will be eliminated by June 7, 2025,” it continued. “Your layoff is expected to be permanent.”

A follow-up letter the next day noted “Tribar Technologies has been sold,” but did not identify the buyer.

“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,” Bob Brewster, Tribar’s director of human resources, wrote in the follow-up. “The buyer will be interviewing Tribar both hourly and salaried employees for employment opportunities.”

The sale and closures come just three years after the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy in 2022 cited Tribar for releasing hexavalent chromium into the Wixom sewer system that discharges into Lake Huron, according to MLive.

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“Hexavalent chromium, a compound used in electroplating and other manufacturing processes, is a potent carcinogen that poses health risks if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin,” The Detroit News reports.

Tribar, which produces trim components for auto companies, pleaded guilty to a negligent violation of the Clean Water Act in December 2022.

“It remains unclear whether the 2022 environmental incident played a direct role in the recent sale and subsequent plant closure,” Chem Analyst reports. “However, it undoubtedly added to the company’s challenges and public image.”

Regardless, the company is just one of many issuing layoff notices this year as Michigan’s unemployment rate continues its upward trajectory.

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The state’s critical manufacturing industry shed 20,000 jobs over the last year, including at least 4,000 so far in 2025, as unemployment continued to tick up to 5.3% in January.

Data from the Department of Technology, Management and Budget released in March show the number of unemployed Michiganders increased for the 10^th consecutive month in January, when another 6,000 lost their jobs.

Compared to the year prior, there were 67,000 more residents without a job in January 2025, marking a 33.3% jump from the same month in 2024. The continued job losses in Michigan come despite a national decline in unemployment of one tenth of a percentage point in January to 4%.

And there’s plenty more to come.

Notices to LARA show Flagstar Bank will dismiss 424 employees from its facility in Troy by May 9, marking the company’s third round of layoffs in less than a year.

Electric vehicle battery manufacturer Akasol Inc. will also cut 188 employees as it closes two facilities in Hazel Park and Warren by July, when it’s moving operations to South Carolina.

Other job losses outlined in Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications to LARA include 41 in Ann Arbor, 92 in Farmington Hills, 255 in Detroit, and 90 in Bay City in the coming weeks.

In April alone, a total of 1,349 have or will receive pink slips in Michigan from companies required by law to submit WARN notices, though many aren’t required.

The notices are only necessary for facility closures that result in the loss of 50 or more employees in a month, or layoffs of 500 or more employees, or layoffs of more than 50 that impact a third or more of a company’s workforce, according to the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.