Dakkota to Close Detroit Plant, Cutting 397 Jobs

Dakkota Integrated Systems will lay off 397 workers as it shuts its Detroit plant, Automotive News reports. The closure lands in a city where one in five jobs ties back to auto manufacturing and logistics.

Dakkota supplies Stellantis, the automaker formed from the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA Group. A Tier 1 supplier (a parts maker selling directly to carmakers, not through intermediaries), Dakkota operates plants across the Midwest and Canada. Detroit is its flagship location.

What does the closure mean for Detroit workers?

The 397 layoffs hit a plant inside Detroit city limits. That detail matters. Supplier closures in the city carry more weight than equivalent cuts in exurban Michigan, because Detroit's labor market concentrates auto jobs within a tight geographic radius.

Stellantis itself has been cutting. Its North American operations have pulled back output through 2024 and 2025 as U.S. sales slid. Suppliers like Dakkota feel those decisions first and hardest. When an automaker trims a shift, its Tier 1 partners lose volume, then headcount, then sometimes the plant itself.

Automotive News broke the story. The publication did not report a closure date, severance terms, or whether the work will shift to another Dakkota facility.

Takeaway: if you work in Detroit auto supply, the customer's production schedule — not your own performance — now drives your job security.

How should affected workers read the market?

For the 397 workers, the practical question is transferability. Tier 1 supplier roles — assembly, quality, logistics, maintenance — map onto adjacent employers in metro Detroit. But hiring in that cluster tracks Stellantis, Ford and General Motors volumes, and all three have been cautious.

Under the federal WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification), plant closures at employers of 100-plus staff generally require 60 days' notice. Affected workers should watch for that notice, which formalizes the timeline and triggers state rapid-response reemployment services.

Automotive News did not specify whether the 397 figure includes temporary or contract staff, a distinction that changes severance eligibility.

Takeaway: the sooner the WARN notice lands, the sooner Michigan's reemployment programs open.

What comes next?

Dakkota has not publicly detailed the closure timeline or relocation plans, and Stellantis has not commented on how it will cover the parts stream the Detroit plant supplied. Automotive News, which has tracked every major supplier cut of this cycle, will likely report the WARN filing and its effective dates as they surface. Watch that filing: it will set the clock for 397 Detroit households.