Conn Selmer to Reportedly Close Ohio Plant, Impacting 150 Union Workers

According to multiple online sources, Conn Selmer has announced plans to close its Eastlake, Ohio, manufacturing plant this summer, a move that will impact about 150 union workers and shift portions of production overseas as the company consolidates its U.S. operations.

The company, which describes itself as “the largest manufacturer of band and orchestra instruments in the United States,” said in a release that the facility will shut down “on or about June 30,” pending negotiations with the union representing its hourly employees at the site — the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW). If finalized, the decision will mark the end of decades of instrument manufacturing in Eastlake.

Conn Selmer said the closure is part of a broader effort to streamline production across its facilities. Under the proposed plan, professional French horn manufacturing will move to the company’s brass factory in Elkhart, Indiana, while production of tubas, sousaphones, and student and intermediate-level French horns will be transitioned offshore, primarily to China.

“This tentative decision, if finalized, will streamline Conn Selmer’s U.S. operations by concentrating production in one professional brass factory and one percussion factory,” the company stated.

The UAW responded to the news, criticizing Conn Selmer for moving jobs out of Ohio, claiming the company.

“Conn Selmer is planning to ship Ohio operations overseas to China,” the union said in a statement. “It means decades of an Ohio mainstay and hundreds of good, union jobs are on the chopping block so that billionaires can reap even more profits.” MI