Around 100 people in the Wellsboro area will be out of a job after the Hitachi Metals Automotive Components, or HMAC, plant closes by Dec. 2017. 

Hitachi Metals Foundy America announced earlier this week, HMAC will merge with a subsidiary, Waupauca Foundy, LLC. 

The plant, which casts auto parts, will send its assets to a facility in Illinois. And the loss of jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, will hurt the local economy. 

“The closing of the HMAC plant in Wellsboro is going to have a major impact,” says Robert Blair, the President and CEO of Tioga County Development Corp.

“They’re family sustaining manufacturing jobs, we’re going to be hit hard.”

For some, there still may be hope.

“They hope to absorb some of the employees at their operation in Lawrenceville,” Blair said.