ZF to close Gray Court plant through end of March

ZF Transmissions’ Gray Court plant will close down Friday and remain closed through March 30, the company announced Thursday.

ZF North American Head of Communications Tony Sapienza released the following statement:

“We have been preparing for the potential outcome that we would have to pause both individual product lines or even entire plants in order to follow the interruption in demand and that is now official. At the same time, we are preparing to provide the best possible support for our customers’ production restart after the corona break. All necessary preparations for the restart are also now being made. We’re hopeful that this is the best situation for our employees and the economy and look forward to getting through this and back to work very soon.”

ZF produces transmissions for several North American auto manufacturers, including Dodge-Chrysler and BMW.

The ZF closure is the first large manufacturing facility in the Upstate to close due to the coronavirus pandemic.