But what Montgomery won't be armed with is any guarantees that facilities such as the northeastern Ohio Chrysler plant in Twinsburg can be saved.

Montgomery, who will visit Dayton and Toledo as well as Twinsburg, joined Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on a conference call yesterday with Ohio reporters.

The White House's director of recovery for auto communities and workers said he will bring with him Small Business Administration and Department of Commerce officials who can help with access to credit and companies trying to retool to make non-auto related products.

There will be officials to help with housing and economic-development issues, and people from the Energy and Transportation departments will be on hand to advise communities about shifting to "green" manufacturing.

There also will be Labor officials to aid with displaced-worker benefits and Environmental Protection Agency officials who can address how to reuse existing factories such as the one in Twinsburg.

The visit and assistance is part of President Barack Obama's "commitment to standing by American autoworkers," Montgomery said.

But when asked about efforts by Brown and other Ohio officials to persuade Chrysler to reverse its Twinsburg decision, Montgomery said, "My focus is to help the community no matter what happens with the Twinsburg facility."

Brown said unless Chrysler decides to keep the plant open, the focus will be on getting federal help of the type Montgomery is describing and then figuring out how to land a new company to operate the facility.

jriskind@dispatch.com