Report: HPA Monon shuts down production, heads for bankruptcy

HPA Monon Corp. has shut down production and is headed for bankruptcy proceedings, according to a story in today's Lafayette Journal and Courier. "The company announced it's going to go into bankruptcy," said Michael Ulrich, education director for the Great Lakes Regional Industrial Council, which represents the plant's union members. "As far as I know, at this point they haven't done it. The last I heard, they were trying to put a financial package together."All the (union) employees have been -- I don't know how you term it -- terminated or laid off. There is no production going on and we're all basically waiting to see what happens." Monon Corp., based in Monon, Indiana, manufactures a wide range of standard and specialized dry freight vans for many heavy-duty trucking needs. According to Ulrich, the final 50 to 60 union employees were furloughed last week. He was quoted as saying that "eight office people and nine guards are all that were actually working" on Thursday. Trailer/Body Builders' attempts Friday to contact anyone in the company's administration were unsuccessful.