Laid off from Pace Industries.

What Pace Industries layoffs have meant for employees

Harrison and Muskegon carried more history into 2026 than their notices show. Pace bought Port City Group in June 2015 to speed its move into automotive work, and by 2020 Craig Potter's declaration in the bankruptcy case gave Harrison and the Port City Group division in Muskegon a section of their own, headed "Production Challenges at the Harrison and PCG Facilities." Potter wrote that casting clutch housings had cost much more than expected, that Harrison's costs and delays ran higher than anticipated, and that the company was confident it would resolve what remained by the end of 2020. No report or filing on record ties those problems to the 2026 closings. If you worked at either site, that declaration is the company's own sworn account of those launches.

A closing date in a Pace filing has been the company's plan at that moment. The November 2022 filing, WGVU reported, said 2121 Latimer Drive would close for good at the end of that December, and Michigan's February 2026 notice names the same address for a permanent closure that April. Nothing on record says what happened there in between. Harrison shows the gap from the other side, with the letter KRZK reported saying operations wouldn't stop before April 26 while KY3 had the mayor counting about 70 people laid off that week. If you're holding a Pace notice, the plant's date and your last day can differ.

"Temporary" has carried a lot of weight at Pace. In July 2022 general manager Michael Bakaric said Harrison remained "an essential part of the company's success" and that his goal was to have people back "as quickly as possible," according to the Chamber of Commerce release, and by February 2026 the company expected Harrison's layoffs to be permanent. Spring 2020's shutdown used the same word across five plants, with Wisconsin's WARN filing for Grafton anticipating less than six months. If your layoff is described as temporary, the estimate on record at Grafton ran in months, and at Harrison the stated goal had no date at all.

Derry Township shows what cuts short of a closing looked like. During the 2025 walkout, union president Duke Reed said the workforce had been slashed by more than 100 through resignations, layoffs and dismissals, that some layoffs were justified when customers had downturns, and that positions weren't restored when those customers recovered, TribLive reported. Worker Jimmy Myers described a recent trend of repeated layoffs interspersed with scheduled work. Those are accounts from one side of a contract dispute, and Reed's count includes people who resigned. Grafton's layoffs were planned in phases, and the 2024 letter said Pace would keep a record at the plant of the job titles it laid off and how many of each.

What happens to the buildings matters if you're deciding how long to wait. Pace's stated wish for Harrison was a sale that kept it operating, and Industrial Auction News reported in August that its equipment was scheduled for auction that October. The unemployment pages for Arkansas, Michigan, Tennessee and Wisconsin explain how a claim works in the states where Pace's notices went. Jackson's plant sold whole, and a Tennessee release has ArtiCast Jackson moving in, with Jackson's mayor saying its team was impressed by the employees they met. If you worked at Jackson, the jobs ArtiCast plans there are the nearest lead on record.

A sourced history of Pace Industries layoffs

• February 2026, Harrison, Arkansas plant closing letter

  Pace told Arkansas it couldn't negotiate working conditions that kept the plant efficient, would stop no earlier than April 26, expected to lay off its 178 employees permanently and would like to sell, KRZK reported. Mayor Jerry Jackson said about 70 were laid off that week, KY3 reported.

• February 2026, two Muskegon, Michigan plants closing notice

  Pace planned a permanent closure on April 25 at 2121 Latimer Drive and 2350 Black Creek Road, Michigan's copy of the notice shows, with 145 jobs from general operators to a plant manager and the reason "Company Restructured."

• February 2026, Jackson, Tennessee plant closing notice

  The plant at 825 Lower Brownsville Road faced a permanent closure on April 26, Tennessee's memo behind the 59 jobs in our tracker records, with no union contract and no bumping rights. A September Tennessee release said ArtiCast Jackson would move in.

• April 2024, Grafton, Wisconsin layoffs

  Pace's letter to Wisconsin said it would announce up to 90 layoffs on April 16 after losing production work, 44 first and the rest in phases, starting June 15 or within 14 days after. It expected them to be permanent, and those affected had no union or bumping rights.

• November 2022, Muskegon closing notice

  Pace said it would close two Muskegon locations, citing "financial trouble" for 2121 Latimer Drive, with the first of 244 layoffs on Dec. 20 and a permanent closing Dec. 31, WGVU reported.

• July 2022, Harrison temporary layoffs

  Pace announced a layoff at its Harrison aluminum plant effective July 18, citing seasonal downward trends at a major customer, and offered temporary assignments at its other 18 locations, a Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce release said.

• April 2020, Chapter 11 filing

  Pace filed a prepackaged Chapter 11 case in Delaware on April 12, Craig Potter's declaration says, and emerged that June, Talk Business & Politics reported.

• March 2020, COVID shutdown of five U.S. plants

  Pace temporarily shut five of its seven U.S. die-casting plants and temporarily laid off about 70% of their usual employees, Craig Potter's declaration says. Grafton's letter, 381 jobs in our tracker, said everyone but 27 salaried employees was laid off and anticipated less than six months.

What to do if you're laid off from Pace Industries

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Pace Industries's biggest hubs: Arkansas, Michigan, Tennessee, Wisconsin. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Pace Industries's hub states run: Arkansas, Michigan, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.