Motorsports firm to close Brownsburg manufacturing site

California-based motorsports company Vance & Hines Performance LLC plans to shut down its manufacturing operations in Brownsburg by the end of the year, laying off about 70 employees.

Vance & Hines made the disclosure in a letter sent last week to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and to the town of Brownsburg. The DWD made the letter public Monday morning.

The company’s Brownsburg facility, which produces aftermarket performance motorcycle exhaust systems and handlebars, is located at 1207 Northfield Drive. In its letter to the state, Vance & Hines said it plans to relocate the Brownsburg operations.

The "employment separations" will begin on or about Nov. 20 and will continue through the end of the year, according to the letter.

Vance & Hines said the move is in response to business challenges it is facing “in a rapidly changing industry,” although it did not offer specifics on what those challenges are.

Representatives from the firm's California-based offices did not immediately respond Monday morning to calls from IBJ for comment.

Even after the manufacturing shutdown, Vance & Hines still will have a presence in Brownsburg. The company also has a racing division there, called Vance & Hines Performance Racing. 

The division, which has 40 to 45 employees, will remain in Brownsburg, according to Greg Anderson, the town’s economic development director.

Anderson said the town is working with Vance & Hines, its employees and state workforce officials to help the displaced workers find new jobs.

“These folks are well-experienced and well-educated individuals,” Anderson said.

Brownsburg’s current employment market could work in the displaced workers’ favor, Anderson said. He was aware of about 400 open positions in town that were “comparable” in pay to the Vance & Hines jobs. Those openings span a variety of industries, including retail, distribution and warehousing, light manufacturing and transportation.

Vance & Hines’ racing operation came to Brownsburg in 2005 and has had several expansions since then, Anderson said. The local manufacturing operation came in 2011.