Manufacturing Facility In Use Since 1911 To Close Its Doors In Shelby, NC

Shelby, NC (WNN) - Located at 1100 Airport Road in Shelby, NC, Solero Technologies has submitted a WARN notice, indicating its intention to close its doors by March 31, 2026. The company's webpage notes that this site currently employs roughly 148 people. This particular plant is a component manufacturing facility that specializes in producing automotive parts, including valves, switches, clutches, and actuators.  

After entering an agreement in April 2024, the company officially acquired Kendrion Automotive on October 1st, 2024, which led to its ownership of the Shelby plant. The company, with the help of Alpha Helio, began mapping out dependencies in the complex supply chain and IT network shortly thereafter. They noted many of the systems had undocumented setups and were dependent on institutional knowledge that wasn't part of the transfer.  

The Solero automotive manufacturing plant is located in Shelby, NC. October 7th, 2025

Mason Beam (WNN)

The Shelby plant, located on parcel number 26834, has changed hands many times throughout its history in Shelby, NC. One of the earliest records on the properties ledger, from 1919, indicates that the Esther Mills Corporation was one of the earliest property owners. On its journey to becoming an automotive manufacturing facility, it had been under the ownership of textile mills, medical development firms, and chemical production companies before being acquired by Honeywell International Inc. in 2007.  It was then owned by FAS Controls Inc., which was acquired by Kendrion in 2011.  

The layoff will result in 102 of these positions being removed, and the status of the remaining 36 local positions is currently unknown. Apparently, they will begin ramping down the Shelby plant now, until its complete closure at the end of the first quarter of 2026. Solero cites that the closure is due to a restructuring where the manufacturing performed at Shelby will be split across different plants. Clutch production will be moved to the Markdorf plant in Germany, and the restructure will have the other plant operations completed at the Water Valley plant in Mississippi. Solero claims that this restructure will result in more efficiency and profitability for the company.

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