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STERLING HEIGHTS, MI-TRW Automotive, which announced last week that it will close a 49-year-old production facility here, says it plans to buy or build a new plant elsewhere in city.

John Wilkerson, senior communications manager for TRW, says there is a possibility for some of the displaced workers to move to the new proposed facility in the area of Mound and 19 Mile roads. The existing plant, on Van Dyke north of 14 Mile Road, manufactures steering and suspension components for light trucks for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler Corp.

The proposed facility on 19 Mile would involve assembly modules, Wilkerson says. He says the plant would be much smaller than the Van Dyke facility, and that construction would start next year on the new facility. Also last week, TRW said it is closing a plant in Jackson, operated by a subsidiary Kelsey-Hayes by July 2006. It employs about 400 people and makes brake components for the auto industry. Present Jackson plant operations would be consolidated into existing North American facilities.