Toyo Automotive Parts, the first manufacturer to locate in Franklin’s Sanders Industrial Park when it opened two decades ago, will close at the end of October, eliminating the jobs of some 200 people.

An announcement on the website of Japan-based parent company Toyo Tire Corporation said the company has decided to “cease manufacturing of automotive parts” at its U.S. subsidiary and will dissolve the business entity.

Franklin’s Toyo plant has supplied anti-vibration rubber and other products to some automotive manufacturers in North America since its opening in 2001.

Changes in the automotive market led to the closure.

According to the news release on Toyo’s website, “rising material, energy and labor costs” have led to an environment in which TAP is “unable to maintain or improve its profit outlook.”

The announcement said the company will consolidate production of TAP-made products at its other global locations.

Toyo Automotive will be no small loss to the Simpson County economy. The plant had expanded a couple of times since its opening and now encompasses nearly 250,000 square feet.

“They’ve been a good corporate citizen ever since they opened,” said Dennis Griffin, executive director of the Franklin-Simpson Industrial Authority. “It’s tough to lose an industry like that.”

Franklin, though, has had its share of good economic news in recent months, with the opening this month of the 114-bed SpringHill Suites hotel at The Mint Gaming Hall at Kentucky Downs and the announcement earlier this year that Trader Joe’s is building a 1 million-square-foot, 900-employee distribution center in Franklin’s new Stone-Givens Industrial Park.

Hoping to continue that momentum, Griffin said he will start “right away” efforts to recruit a new occupant for the Toyo building.

“We hope to get someone in that building in the near future,” he said. “It’s a great facility located close to the interstate.”

Toyo Tire, which was established in 1945 and entered the U.S. market in 1966, said in a news release that it “will be providing each employee with job placement assistance.”