Detroit Mayor Selling Company, Stamping Plant to Michigan Tooling Company

L&W Engineering Co., a metal stamper of deep-drawn parts such as oil pans and reinforcements, appears to be the primary buyer for Bing Metals, an industrial company owned by Detroit's new Mayor, Dave Bing.

The former NBA Rookie of the year (1966) and seven time all-star with the Detroit Pistons, Bing proved to be as savvy off the court, as he was on. After his Hall of Fame career, the Washington D.C. native has been a successful businessman including his minority-owned company, Bing Metals. In the mid '90s he was named as one the Top 50 Greatest NBA Players of all time.

Bing's leadership and drive eventually saw his company become a roughly $60 million organization employing hundreds of Metro Detroiters.

However, even the man dubbed "Mr. Unsung-About", who exuded a rare mixture of professionalism and unbelievable skill, could not escape the upheaval levied upon the sub-Tier suppliers in the tooling and stamping industry. When General Motors was tying payments to PPAP (essentially a delay tactic) Bing Metals–like many others–were put in nightmarish cash-flow situations that most companies, in any industry, could never sustain operations with.

The reported new buyer, L&W Engineering has locations in Blissfield and Belleville. For whatever reason, L&W's Website has been unavailable for the past several weeks.

One person close to this situation stated the combined companies will change its name to Oakland Stamping.