Southern Indiana Business Report
JASPER – A company that has operated in Jasper since 1949 will close April 30, according to a notice filed by its parent company with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The closure of Jasper Rubber Products will affect 345 employees.
First Brands, which purchased Jasper Rubber in 2024, filed the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the Indiana DWD Feb. 27. First Brands noted the closure is permanent.
The impending closure follows First Brands’ bankruptcy filing in 2025. At the time of filing, First Brands had about $12 million in corporate bank accounts against more than $9 billion in liabilities, according to the Department of Justice.
Jasper Rubber has been a Tier 3 supplier to several large automotive companies, producing high quality rubber, plastic, and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) materials.
Dubois Strong Economic Development Corporation, and the City of Jasper are working with WorkOne Southwest to provide assistance to Jasper Rubber employees.
Colten Pipenger, executive director of Dubois Strong, said WorkOne Southwest will assist affected employees to connect them with upcoming job fair opportunities as well as reskilling and upskilling programs to prepare them for new employment. WorkOne has an office on the Vincennes University Jasper campus that is also a resource.
With a county unemployment rate of 2%, there’s reason to be optimistic the workers won’t have to go far to find jobs.
“There are many opportunities in the Jasper area but it’s never good when an employee, through no fault of their own, loses their job,” Pipenger said.
Prior to the ownership change in 2024, Jasper Rubber was an ESOP – Employee Stock Ownership Plan – which gives employees an ownership interest in the company. That ended when First Brands took over.
First Brands is also closing a manufacturing plant in Logansport. Closures and layoffs will affect 1,000 workers in Ohio. The auto parts giant also faces legal issues with several executives charged in a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme.
Former CEO of First Brands Group, LLC Patrick James and his brother former Senior Executive Edward James are charged with wire fraud and bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and multiple counts of wire fraud and bank fraud, in connection with various schemes to defraud lenders regarding the liabilities and financial condition of First Brands, according to the DOJ.
“The defendants operated First Brands as a ‘Ponzi’ scheme in which new loan proceeds were used to pay back old lenders and to fund their extravagant lifestyle,” said Executive Special Agent in Charge of the IRS-CI Washington, D.C. Field Office Kareem Carter.