Kyklos Bearing International Llc., a supplier of parts to General Motors, plans to shut down a factory in Sandusky, Ohio, and fire 400 people after the end of the year.

The company, which used to be the biggest employer in Erie County, Ohio, as recently as three years ago, last week told state officials it will begin cutting salaried and hourly workers on Dec. 31, according to the Toledo Blade.

Metaldyne Performance Group, KBI’s parent company, said in May it planned to close the plant, which faced overseas competitors with lower labor costs.

“It’s also an easy product to import from China or anywhere else in the world,” Ken Lortz, Region 2-B director for the United Auto Workers, told the newspaper.“We were trying to compete with third-world country products at GM wages and benefits, and the company decided they couldn’t do that.”