The euro currency continued sinking this week, falling to the lowest price since 2010.FORT WAYNE – Endless hassles have convinced Navistar International Corp. to abandon its fight to consolidate operations in Lisle, Ill., a company official said Wednesday.
But that doesn’t mean more than 800 Navistar jobs are staying in Fort Wayne. Officials plan to review numerous incentives packages that could still send local operations packing.
The Lisle consolidation plan required permission from the village’s zoning board, the place where the manufacturer’s bid got bogged down.
Residents in the upscale Chicago suburb objected to the amount of noise a truck- and engine-testing center would create in the neighborhood, which includes a school for children with autism. Neighbors also sounded an alarm about Navistar’s plan to store more than 150,000 gallons of fuel and other fluids in 15 aboveground tanks on the site.
The results were lawsuits, threatened lawsuits, subpoenas and depositions. “The process just evolved into an unreasonable process for us. There was no end in sight,” said Don Sharp, chief information officer for Navistar. “Any company – Navistar included – hates uncertainty.
“At this point in time, we need to step back,” he said. “We haven’t given much thought at all to all the options.”
Those options have included pitches from Mayor Tom Henry and the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance, who wooed the company to stay.
Andi Udris, Alliance president, said his non-profit organization has given Navistar officials “numerous proposals” dating back to 2003.
Navistar has received incentives-laden offers from numerous communities eager to lure about 4,000 high-paying jobs. The company’s plan for Lisle was to consolidate its Warrenville, Ill., headquarters with other operations at an 88-acre corporate campus. Sharp didn’t reveal a deadline for when company officials hope to have reviewed options.
Udris declined to specify details of talks between Navistar and the Alliance. But Udris told The Journal Gazette he thinks the company could meet its goal of putting engineers for engines and trucks in one facility by moving its Melrose Park, Ill., operation to Fort Wayne.
“There’s no question I would believe it’s viable,” he said.
The cost of running a combined operation in Fort Wayne would be about $33 million less annually than the cost of doing it in Lisle, according to an Ernst & Young 2009 comparison study commissioned by Navistar. The economics are in Fort Wayne’s favor, Udris said.
But it’s not clear whether Navistar would even consider the option.
Sharp wouldn’t say whether Fort Wayne’s submission is among the proposals to be reviewed and considered.
He also wouldn’t say whether Fort Wayne has already been crossed off the list of viable candidates.
“It’s hard for me to answer that question because we haven’t really sorted through all the options,” he said. “It’s a very long process and a difficult one. I know you want answers, but I don’t have answers.”
The Alliance will update its offer, Udris said.
Alliance spokeswoman Marla Schneider said five of the organization’s nine employees are assigned to the Navistar proposal, which has been a priority since October.
“We’re prepared to put together something very attractive and creative for them,” she said. “The jobs are very important to us. We’re not giving up. We’re actively working on this every day.”
Navistar’s Truck Design and Technology Center is one of the last reminders that the company’s predecessor, International Harvester Co., once employed about 10,500 in Fort Wayne. The company closed its local assembly plant in 1983.
The company now operates a local test track and Truck Reliability Center in addition to the truck design center.
