Nacco Materials Handling Group (NMHG) will close its Lenoir, North Carolina, forklift component facility and restructure its Irvine, Scotland, forklift assembly and component facility under new plans revealed last week.

The Lenoir component facility, which employs 310 people, will be phased out over 12 to 15 months. The Lenoir plant's forklift component operations, including mast and cylinder manufacturing, will be consolidated into NMHG plants in Sulligent, Alabama; Berea, Kentucky; and Greenville, North Carolina.

The Irvine assembly and component facility, which employs 450 people, would be restructured to "an appropriately sized operation" in the next three years to manufacture three and four-wheel electric rider forklifts and mast components for the European market. Other components currently manufactured there would be outsourced to independent suppliers, Nacco said.

NMHG said it would record a USD8.3 million restructuring charge in the fourth quarter of 2002, but the move would provide about USD6.8 million in extra net profit by 2006.