(December 22) - Most of the community will be off for the weekend and Christmas so we have to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
It's good to relax, enjoy family and remember how fortunate we are in this season. We'll post some minimal updates next week and look forward to a full schedule in the new year.
Bodycote Pre-Year-End Trading Update
(December 21) - Bodycote issued a pre-close trading update today on their year to end December 31 and things look pretty darned good. While they expect the US and French auto industries to continue to lag, they see strong grown elsewhere. Sales grew 13% from acquisitions and 6% from existing facilities while profit grew nicely. Read the full PR by clicking here.
New Digs for Marathon Sensors Inc.
(December 20) - It looks like the folks at Marathon are pretty excited about moving into a new modern manufacturing facility. After about 22+ years in the same place and upgrade is certainly a very good thing. Here's their PR:
Cincinnati, OH (20 December 2006) – Marathon Sensors Inc. is pleased to announce its move to an upgraded, modern facility in West Chester, Ohio. The new building is ideal for Marathon’s ongoing lean manufacturing initiative and their re-entry into full service and turnkey systems for the Heat Treatment and Process Control industries.
“Over the last year Marathon, with the help of TechSolve, transitioned to lean manufacturing methods that were hampered by our less modern, batch manufacturing facility.” said Yvonne Boltz, Vice President for Marathon Sensors. “As a technology leader in heat treat and process control products, we needed a more modern space that would enable lean, flow-based manufacturing.”
The new building, located at 8904 Beckett Rd. in West Chester, Ohio (45069), has an open layout for lean manufacture of Marathon's instrumentation, sensors, turnkey systems and ozone generation products. Marathon Sensors has long been a symbol for quality and innovation in both heat treatment and process control markets and, following new ownership in December 2005, strives for even further excellence in new products and service.
“Since becoming a family-owned and operated business one year ago, Marathon has implemented new ERP systems, lean manufacturing and a worldwide service and support network, all to better serve our customers.” said Marathon President Eric Boltz. “This building makes our transition to a fully modern, customer focused enterprise complete.”
Marathon Sensors, a family-owned, ISO 9001:2000 registered firm, designs, manufactures and markets atmosphere sensors, instrumentation and control systems for the heat treating, power generation, glass and ceramic, chemical and petrochemical, steel reheat, and incineration industries. For more information about Marathon’s products, visit the website at www.marathonsensors.com, phone 800-547-1055 (+01 513-772-1000 outside the United States), or email at yboltz@marathonsensors.com.
$3.4 Billion Infusion for Delphi
(December 19) - It looks like Delphi is getting a big boost in its efforts to emerge from bankruptcy. The move sells controlling interest in the former GM subsidiary to Wall Street investment firms and eliminates the muddled relationship with Delphi's former parent company. As part of the deal Delphi's CEO, Robert Miller, will step down on January 1, handing the reigns to Rodney O'Neal the company's current CFO. The deal is apparently very complex and may wind up costing GM several billion in the end but should help with Delphi's aggressive plans at becoming a leaner company and returning to profitability.
Dana Corp to Close Eight Plants, Move Jobs to Mexico
(December 19) - Bankrupt Dana Corp has decided to close a total of eight plants in the US to become more competitive. The four plants announced to date will see the bulk of their work go to Dana plants in Mexico. Here's the full PR:
TOLEDO, Ohio, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dana Corporation (OTC: DCNAQ) (BULLETIN BOARD: DCNAQ) today announced four of eight facilities it plans to close during the next two years. The actions will consolidate production and are designed to balance capacity and take advantage of lower-cost manufacturing locations. Dana announced preliminary plans to close eight facilities last month.
The four facilities announced for closure are Dana's Syracuse, Ind., and Cape Girardeau, Mo., Traction Products facilities, and the company's Guelph and Thorold, Ontario, Canada, Structural Solutions plants.
Facility information is as follows:
* The Syracuse plant employs approximately 65 people and manufactures axle
components. The facility is expected to close by Sept. 30, 2007.
* The Cape Girardeau plant employs approximately 200 people manufacturing
axle components. The facility is expected to close by June 30, 2008.
* The Guelph operation employs approximately 25 people manufacturing front
and rear frame structures. The plant is expected to close by Feb. 28,
2007.
* The Thorold structures facility employs approximately 150 people
manufacturing stampings. The plant is expected to close by June 30,
2007.
Production from the Syracuse and Cape Girardeau facilities will be moved to Dana operations in Mexico. Closure of the Guelph plant coincides with the end of a customer program that comprised all production volume at the facility. The majority of the production at the Thorold operation will be moved to Dana's Elizabethtown, Ky., structures plant.
Dana Chairman and CEO Mike Burns said, "The decision to close any facility is extremely difficult and regrettable. But to become competitive and emerge from Chapter 11 as a viable company, it is absolutely critical that we further consolidate work across our facilities to reduce overcapacity and high operating costs."
Mr. Burns said that four additional facility closures are expected to be finalized in 2007.
Dana expects to incur charges of approximately $26 million before tax during the fourth quarter of 2006 and additional aggregate charges of approximately $19 million in 2007-2009 for total charges of $45 million before tax, in connection with the plant closures announced today.
New Owner for Dana?
(December 15) - Just a teaser at this point but we're hearing rumors that bankrupt Dana may have a new owner as soon as January 2007. We'll keep you posted.
Two More Plant Closures
(December 15) - Although we've seen the economic indicators that show growth in heat treating, we also know it's limited to certain geographies and markets. Today we're sad to announce two more planned closures.
Bodycote's Maple Heights facility, the former Alpha Heat Treat, will be closing. No word on affected employees or whether any will be offered jobs at the nearby Highland Heights facility (both are in the Cleveland area).
Secondly, Robert Bosch Tool Company's Vermont American plant, located in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, will be closing effective in January of 2007. All heat treat operations are being moved to a sister plant located in Lincolnton, N.C. Word is that some of the employees at the Elizabethtown plant have been offered jobs at the Lincolnton facility, but the vast majority will have to find employment elsewhere.
Beavermatic and Amarillo Gear
(December 14) - Industrial Heating broke the news yesterday about Beavermatic installing a third batch IQ at Amarillo Gear. You can read IH's write up by clicking here.
Bodycote Lansing Closure Update
(December 13) - Industrial Heating has the skinny on the Bodycote, Lansing closure. It turns out that General Manager Lew Fortune has explained that the closure is not related to the downturn at GM, but instead, caused by high labor prices at the 50-year-old plant. Read the full text here.
The End of the Road for "Magical" Fuel-Saving Magnets
(December 12) - Almost a year ago to the day there was talk on the web about using magnets to improve combustion efficiency in heat treating furnaces. Some swore they worked and others, including us, ridiculed them as nothing more than snake oil.
Well it turns out that the FTC is starting to crack down on the false claims of the companies that sell such bogus devices. Cited as one of the years "top 10 scams" (see number 7) by ConsumerAffairs.com, we learned that the FTC has halted the bogus claims of International Research and Development Corp and it's "FuelMax" magnetic fuel saver product. Kudos to the FTC for stopping scammers like these.
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
Court Sides with Spammer? You're kidding me, right?
(December 11) - Here at heattreatnews.com we've been pretty vocal against spammers. Not only did we have to use a special spam filter to stop thousands of daily spams in our email, but now our forums get so pounded by spammers that we have to weed them out periodically. Well anyway, it looks like so called "Can-Spam" Act not only legalizes some kinds of spam, but apparently allows spammers to sue you for calling them out on fraudulent return email addresses. You can read the article here.
Bodycote to Close Lansing Heat Treating Facility
(December 11) - We have word today that Bodycote is planning to close its Lansing, Michigan heat treating plant. Run by General Manager Lew Fortune, the plant provides numerous processes to its customers and has QS9000 and Ford and Dana accreditations. Considering that both Ford and Dana are in Bankruptcy we have to assume this has hit the plant's workload pretty hard.
Southeast Asia Growth Stifled by US Economy Fears
(December 5) - Experts are saying that fears of a US and European recession (please no!) have got the Southeast Asia economies in a state of the jitters that will limit their growth in 2007 to a paltry 4.4%. Now, keep in mind that 4.4% would be gangbusters for the US or Europe so it's really not that bad...here's a snippet from CNN's article which you can read by clicking here:
HONG KONG, China (AP) -- The regional economy in East Asia will post slower growth in 2007 because of a slowdown in America and Europe, and the region could be upset by global market turbulence triggered by U.S. recession jitters, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.
The average GDP growth for East Asian economies would slow to 4.4 percent in 2007, from 4.9 percent in 2006, according to the Manila-based bank's forecast in its twice-yearly report.
"With economic growth in the U.S. and euro zone slowing to a more tempered pace, the external environment facing East Asia in 2007 is likely to be somewhat less supportive of economic growth, but more conducive to containing inflation," the report.
Europe Tries to Bolster Flailing Airbus vs. Boeing
(December 5) - Today the EU renewed its support for a struggling EADS/Airbus and its ongoing battle against Boeing subsidies. We're not experts in these things but we know a few things. Airbus has great technology for airframe skeletons, achieving very high stiffness at a much lower cost than Boeing. At the same time, their A380 super-jumbo has wiring problems beyond belief and is heavily delayed. The delays have caused numerous cancellations of the aircraft from customers and huge late penalties from others. Meanwhile, Airbus continues to struggle in its efforts to finance a 10 billion euro (~$14 billion) effort to redesign the A350. Some suspect gov't subsidies in Airbus' efforts as well. If you want the skinny on this battle click here.
Timken Acquires Turbo Engines, Inc.
(December 4) - Timken continues to invest in the aerospace market with the recent announcement that they will acquire the assets of Turbo Engines, Inc. a leading aircraft engine overhaul company. Here's the PR (read the full release here):
The Timken Company (NYSE: TKR) today announced that it is continuing to expand its strategic position in the aerospace aftermarket by acquiring the assets of Turbo Engines, Inc., a leading provider of aircraft engine overhaul and repair services. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
"The addition of Turbo Engines represents a significant expansion in our ability to deliver enhanced value to the aerospace aftermarket through fully integrating a total service offering of critical products and services," said J. Ron Menning, Timken vice president - aerospace, consumer and super precision. "The combination of new engine overhaul capabilities with Timken's existing replacement parts and service operations opens up powerful opportunities to provide complete fleet support for our growing aviation customer base. We intend to expand our aerospace portfolio by making strategic investments that help us improve customers' performance."
Timken plans to continue the former Turbo Engines operations under existing management at the overhauler's current location in Tucson, Ariz., as part of Timken's aerospace aftermarket solutions business. The staff at the 42,000-square-foot Tucson facility consists of 35 people, primarily airframe and powerplant technical specialists.
A recipient of the "Certificate of Excellence" Gold Award for 2005 from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Turbo Engines has earned a strong industry reputation for expert repair, overhaul and support services for a wide variety of aircraft engines, components and helicopter transmissions.
Among the engine platforms supported are the Pratt & Whitney PT6 and Twin Pac series, Honeywell T53 series engines, as well as Bell power transmission and drive train components and Goodrich fuel controls. Services include complete engine overhaul and accessory and part reconditioning, in addition to exchange programs and field support. Typical customers include commercial and military fleet operators, offshore drilling transport and emergency services.
Bodycote News in India's Ecomonic Times
(December 3) - We're all aware of the growing interest in India's heat treating market and Bodycote's intention to establish a presence there. It turns out that they got some good coverage in the Indian press last week. You can see the full article here. Here's a snippet from the article:
Bodycote plans thermal units in India
V HEMAMALINI & V BALASUBRAMANIAN CHENNAI
[ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 01, 2006 11:26:54 AM]
BangaloreEdition
UK'S Bodycote Group, a leading global supplier of specialist metallurgical and testing services, is bullish on tapping the commercial heat treating market (CHT) buoyed by pouring investments into the Indian automotive sector and the growing outsourcing demand from its overseas customers.
Bodycote has chalked out plans to set up a series of thermal processing facilities in major automobile centres in India over a five-year period. Its start-up facility on 18,000 sq meters is being set up at Pune at an investment of Rs 50 crore. It is slated for operation in the fourth quarter of 2007. Disclosing the group's business plans to ET on his recent visit to Chennai, Mario Ciampini, Bodycote Group's business development director said: "In addition to Pune, we will be expanding into five additional sites with an aggregate investment of Rs 500 crore.
Besides the greenfield route, we will pursue selective smaller acquisitions that matches our technology and process capabilities."
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