- Ford Motor Company, Automotive Components Holdings and
Zeledyne have completed the sale of the ACH Glass business and its
three plants.
- This sale is the fourth for ACH and the second involving a U.S. business.
- This
agreement represents important progress with the ACH strategy, which
was created to reduce Ford’s material costs over time while preserving
jobs and maintaining the flow of high-quality components to Ford.
Ford Motor Company, Automotive Components Holdings and
Zeledyne today announced the sale of the ACH Glass business and its
plants in Nashville, Tenn., and Tulsa, Okla., and its subsidiary
Vidriocar in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Also included are the leases for
its warehouse in Lebanon, Tenn, and its engineering offices in Allen
Park, Mich.
The sale is the fourth for ACH and the second
involving a U.S. business. With the completion of this sale and related
employee transfers, ACH now has eight plants supported by about 9,000
leased hourly and salaried employees, down from 17 plants and 23,000
leased employees at its start in October 2005.
“This
agreement represents a major milestone in the implementation of our ACH
strategy and Ford’s restructuring effort,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s
president of The Americas. “We continue working hard and focusing on
our core business – bringing to market more top-quality products people
truly want.”
“We are working aggressively to complete the sale of more ACH plants this year,” said Bill Connelly, ACH CEO.
Negotiations
continue for the sale of additional ACH plants for which MOUs have been
signed. Earlier ACH sales involved the fuel rail business located in
the ACH subsidiary in El Jarudo, Mexico; the power transfer unit
business located in the Converca Plant in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico; and the
driveshaft business, which is being relocated from the ACH plant in
Monroe, Mich., to a new site in southeast Michigan.
Zeledyne
was formed for this acquisition by Robert Price, a Tulsa-based private
investor. The management team is led by CEO Michael J. McCarney, a
respected leader who retired from Ford Motor Company with more than 30
years of experience in manufacturing and business, including two years
as president of Ford’s South East Asian Operations.
“These
operations represent a tremendous opportunity for Zeledyne,” said
Price, Zeledyne chairman. “We have plans to grow all three areas of the
business: automotive glass products as original equipment; automotive
aftermarket glass; and architectural glass.”
About 1,600
employees in the U.S. and Mexico work at the Glass operations, which is
a leading manufacturer of OEM and Carlite® replacement automotive glass
as well as Versalux® architectural glass. Last year the automotive
glass products, including windshields, backlites and door glass, were
installed in more than 2.7 million vehicles as either original or
replacement parts. Versalux® architectural glass can be found on many
notable buildings around the world, from Ford Field in Detroit to
casinos in China and hotels in Dubai.