M-Tek acquires Arkay plant in Alabama
MANCHESTER, TENN. - Automotive injection molder M-Tek Inc. has expanded into Alabama, buying a 55,000-square-foot facility from fellow molder Arkay Industries Inc. of Monroe, Ohio.
The 85-employee plant in Prattville, Ala., will join operations in Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi for Manchester-based M-Tek, a subsidiary of Japan's Kasai Kogyo Co. Ltd.
M-Tek representatives said no one was available to speak about the company's plans, but news reports from Alabama said the company has talked about adding as many as 200 jobs in Prattville. The deal closed Oct. 7 for an undisclosed amount.
The site includes injection molding, painting and some subassembly operations. Arkay has used it to supply DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes assembly plant in nearby Vance, Ala.
M-Tek already supplies Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Nissan Motor Co. in North America. In Alabama it will have access not only to Mercedes but also Hyundai Motor Co., which just launched an assembly site in Montgomery, Ala.
Royal wants to divest Ecoproducts unit
WOODBRIDGE, ONTARIO - Royal Group Technologies Ltd. has added another subsidiary to the list of businesses it wants to divest to increase shareholder value.
Royal Ecoproducts Co., a producer of recycled polypropylene compounds, is for sale. The subsidiary lost C$5.2 million (US$4.4 million ) last year before interest, taxes and depreciation. Royal Group Chief Financial Officer James Lawn would not disclose the unit's sales.
The unit obtains scrap PP from various sources in southern Ontario. Its output mainly supplies Royal Dynamics Ltd., another subsidiary that injection molds building products, but which is not a candidate for divestiture, according to Lawn.
Other businesses for sale are a majority stake in housewares molder Royal Alliance, door maker Baron Metal Industries, captive truck system Roadex Transport and subsidiaries in Poland.
Dana slashing benefits, cutting jobs
TOLEDO, OHIO - Struggling auto supplier Dana Corp. will sell three noncore businesses, cut 5 percent of its salaried workforce and slash benefits.
The firm will divest its divisions that make engine parts, fluid products and pump products. Combined, the units employ 9,800 and last year represented a total of $1.3 billion in sales. Moving forward, the Toledo company will emphasize its sealing, thermal products and drivetrain products. It has plastics manufacturing in the sealing and fluid product businesses.
The job cuts will come mostly through attrition and result in $15 million in savings next year, the company estimated.
Dana will eliminate its Employees' Stock Purchase Plan, reduce its share of costs in its U.S. employees' health-insurance plan and suspend matching contributions to its U.S. and Canadian long-term savings programs. It also suspended wage and salary increases globally.
``While these are difficult steps ... they are essential if we are to maintain and grow our presence in a global market that has seen competitive realities forever changed,'' said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Burns in a news release.
The Oct. 20 announcement comes less than two weeks after the firm said it would restate its results for 2004 and the first half of 2005. It also postponed its third-quarter financial report. An audit committee determined the company ``did not properly account for certain items'' in 2004 and the first part of 2005, and decided the financial statements from that period could not be trusted. Dana said the issues involved customer pricing and transactions with suppliers in its commercial vehicle business.
Conwed purchases Netlon technology
MINNEAPOLIS - Conwed Plastics has expanded its netting and mesh product line by acquiring Netlon businesses from Tensar International Ltd. of Blackburn, England.
Conwed paid an undisclosed amount for rights to Netlon technology for making netting for filtration, industrial parts protection, agriculture and ground stabilization. The Minneapolis firm also bought production equipment, which it will relocate to its European headquarters in Genk, Belgium, said Conwed spokeswoman Megan Nelson.
The deal will boost Conwed's annual sales to more than $100 million, the firm said.
