TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Hwa Fong Rubber has announced the purchase of the former Sumitomo Rubber facility in the Town of Tonawanda. It will now be officially known as HF Industrial Park.
"HF Industrial Park will become a dynamic mix of local, national, and international company operations, while ensuring a robust reuse of the longstanding, and important, regional industrial site," according to Hwa Fong Rubber.
The company said prospective operators within the park will include automotive-related manufacturing in rubber products, wheel parts, transmissions, chassis, and other components.
Taiwan-based Hwa Fong Rubber was founded in 1945 and produces a range of rubber products, from powersports, bicycle, industrial, agricultural, passenger car, specialty, truck to bus tires.
The Sumitomo Rubber Facility abruptly shut down in November 2024, leaving more than 1,500 people without a job. Sumitomo said the closure came after an extended examination of the facility's viability, which found mounting material and logistics costs, dated infrastructure, intermittent financial performance and changing market conditions.
The company claimed it implemented cost-control measures, efficiency enhancements, capital investments and other improvements over the last several years. It also claimed the changes did not offset the mounting financial losses at the facility.
Some of the employees had worked there for just months, others had worked there for decades. They all told 7 News they had no warning that the entire facility would be shutting down for good.
