Rugged Liner to close both Owosso plants, cutting 90 jobs
The truck bed liner maker told the state it will shut its Aiken Street and Universal Drive sites on March 19, 2027, and gave no reason in the filing.
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Rugged Liner is closing in Owosso. The company has told the State of Michigan it will shut down both of its Owosso plants and cut 90 jobs, with a layoff date of March 19, 2027.
The notice covers 951 Aiken St. and 200 Universal Drive. It is filed with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity's Workforce Development office and posted on the state's public WARN notice page, which lists the type of company action as "company closure."
The filing does not say why. In the field for the reason for the company action, the notice reads "not specified." It does not say whether the work moves to another plant, whether the company is being sold, or whether any Owosso operations remain after March. A list of the affected job titles was filed with the notice as an attachment.
Ninety jobs is a large number for a city of Owosso's size, and the March 2027 date means the people holding those jobs have roughly 18 months of notice. Rugged Liner manufactures truck bed liners and truck accessories and has operated in Owosso for decades, according to the company's own description of its business.
The federal WARN Act requires employers to give at least 60 days' notice of a mass layoff or plant closing, and those notices become public records once filed with the state. Michigan posts them in a running list by county. The Rugged Liner filing is listed under Shiawassee County.
The Current is seeking comment from the company and from Owosso city officials, and has asked the state for the job-title attachment filed with the notice. As of Tuesday, no public statement had been issued by the company about the closure, and the filing itself is the only public account of it.
What happens next
The layoff date on the filing is March 19, 2027. Between now and then, the questions that matter to 90 households are the ones the notice leaves blank: whether the closure is final, whether any jobs move, what severance or transfer rights exist, and whether the workers are represented by a union. We will report the company's and the city's answers when we have them, and follow the state page for any amended filing.
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