But if you want the points adjusted on a 1949 Buick; if the front suspension of your 1910 Model T has gone all knock kneed; if your 1931 Model A Ford needs an engine rebuild, the solution is simple: Pick up the phone and call Jerry Baker.

Detroit Free Press

(MCT)

DETROIT _ As hundreds of employees who work at four plants owned and operated by Lapeer Metal Stamping await their closure, the financial difficulties facing Lapeer illustrate that even the most successful minority-owned automotive suppliers are struggling in today's difficult automotive industry.

Lapeer Metal Stamping is part of Dearborn, Mich.-based Diez Group, which was founded by Gerald Diez, an active member of the Hispanic business community and an icon in the automotive minority supplier community.

The Diez Group is part of General Motors Corp.'s so-called mentored suppliers, a select group of minority companies that are viewed as preferred suppliers, said Gary Gonzalez, president of Madison Heights, Mich.-based Gonzalez Design Group.

"They're one of the top guys around town and very well thought-of," Gonzalez said.

The Lapeer division once had annual revenue of more than $120 million, according to Darryl Bragg, vice president of UAW Local 9699. Today, he said, those sales have dwindled to about $60 million with GM and Ford Motor Co. as the two main customers.

But while Diez Group is lauded by some, Bragg said the company unwisely attempted to dictate prices to its customers.

"They have made some bad decisions," Bragg said.

Lapeer and Diez Group did not return several phone calls from the Detroit Free Press and spokesmen for both GM and Ford declined to comment.

Lapeer Metal Stamping informed salaried employees early this month of plans to close four plants Nov. 1, according to a notice obtained by the Detroit Free Press.

"Due to sudden, dramatic and unexpected deteriorating circumstances in the automotive industry and in Lapeer's financial and economic condition, its management has been compelled to sell its book of business and permanently close its operations," the company's notice said.

Bragg and shipping documents obtained by the Free Press suggest some of Lapeer's equipment is being sent to L & W Engineering Co. Inc. in Belleville, Mich.

L & W did not return phone calls.

"That is a large, privately owned stamping operation," said John Groustra, a senior managing director at Birmingham, Mich.-based consulting firm Conway, MacKenzie & Dunleavy.

Diez Group also owns Delaco Steel Processing LLC, April Steel and JIT. None of those companies are mentioned in the plant-closure notices. Delaco is a supplier of steel parts to the automotive industry.

Dave Bing, CEO of Detroit-based Bing Group, said Lapeer's problems illustrate the bind facing many minority automotive suppliers as steel prices escalate and customer volumes decline.

Most minority suppliers are small to mid-size companies with weak balance sheets that find it difficult to fund expansions without additional financing, Bing said. But the banking industry is reluctant to invest in the troubled automotive industry.

"Gerry and I have been friendly competitors for the last 30 years," Bing said. "I'm sorry to see what he is going through, but it is not different than what all of us are going through."

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The company's financial struggles are a blow to progress the Hispanic community has made, said Raymond Lozano, executive director of the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: "This economy is hurting the Hispanic business community."

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© 2008, Detroit Free Press.