Dakkota to Close Kettering Dash-Panel Plant, 397 Jobs Affected

Dakkota Integrated Systems is closing its Detroit Kettering instrument-panel plant, a move that will result in 397 layoffs, according to a notice posted by Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and reported by Yahoo Finance. The east-side Detroit facility has supplied dash panels for Stellantis SUV programs and sits on roughly 32 acres the company purchased from the Detroit Public Schools Community District for $2.6 million.

The site previously received public support: Michigan approved a $1.5 million Business Development Program grant and granted a 15-year Renaissance Zone designation in January 2020. Those incentives were part of efforts to anchor manufacturing activity on the former Kettering and Rose school properties.

For Michigan automotive stakeholders, the closure underscores continuing realignment in supplier footprints even as OEMs plan future investments. Stellantis’ October 2025 investment plan included $130 million to ready the Jefferson plant for a next-generation Durango slated to begin production in 2029, highlighting that OEM production plans and supplier decisions can move on different timelines.

What’s known next: the labor notice confirms the plant shutdown and job impacts; no further details on relocation of the supplied dash-panel work or timelines beyond the posted closure and layoffs were provided in the report.