TRI-CON TO CLOSE COLUMBIA OPERATION

COLUMBIA -- Tri-Con Industries Ltd. is shutting down its Columbia facility.

The manufacturer of automobile seat covers, which began operations in Columbia more than a dozen years ago, issued the mandatory 60-day notice of closure last weekend.

Although the plant can officially cease operations in January, it may be September before the facility completely closes.

The announcement may seem like deja vu for people living in the Cape Girardeau area. It was just a year ago, Nov. 4, 1995, that Tri-Con announced the 60-day notice that it would close in January.

Company officials said in 1995 that the company, a U.S. subsidiary of the Tokyo Seat Co., was moving to Mexico in an "economic move."

Officials said in Columbia last weekend that Tri-Con had lost a major contract for its product.