As part of the strategic focus developed under its Plan to Win program, Metaldyne Corporation, an Asahi Tec company, today announced it will seek to divest its Middleville, Mich., and Niles, Ill., facilities.

The decision is the result of a comprehensive product review conducted as part of the Plan to Win, an action-oriented plan to create value for Metaldyne stakeholders. Under the Plan, Metaldyne has streamlined its cost structure, focused its capital expenditures and intensified its product line focus, all to improve performance.

“We are taking a holistic view of the global marketplace and implementing strategic drivers given the dynamic environment,” said Thomas A. Amato, chairman and CEO of Metaldyne and co-CEO of Asahi Tec. “As we reviewed our products and operations and their opportunity for growth we found that some products and operations are no longer core and better suited for other suppliers. We continue to review all our products and proactively take action if necessary.”

The Middleville and Niles operations will be reported under Discontinued Operations in Metaldyne’s financial statement beginning with the second quarter of the 2008 fiscal year, and will be held for sale or closure. Middleville principally machines front engine covers, oil pumps, and other components, and Niles is an aluminum die casting operation.

“The employees at these plants are committed to delivering quality products to our customers and I want to commend them,” said Amato.

Since January Metaldyne has taken significant steps to reduce its structural costs, balance capacity with softer vehicle production in North America and create a more agile organization focused on core products. The company has:

– Streamlined its product lines and organizational structure;
– Significantly reduced corporate costs;
– Flexed structural costs at its operations; and
– Accelerated the closure of three Chassis facilities including Farmington Hills, Mich., Greenville, N.C., and an administrative office in Plymouth, Mich.

“The Plan to Win will intensify our capital investing focus and bring more global balance to our manufacturing footprint,” said Amato. “We are committed to investing in core technology to strategically grow our business.”

Proceeds from any divestitures will be used to pay down debt or for general funding purposes.

About Metaldyne

Metaldyne is an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Tec Corporation, a Shizuoka, Japan-based chassis and powertrain component supplier in the passenger car/light truck and medium/heavy truck segments. Asahi Tec is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Metaldyne is a leading global designer and supplier of metal based components, assemblies and modules for transportation related powertrain and chassis applications including engine, transmission/transfer case, wheel end and suspension, axle and driveline, and noise and vibration control products to the motor vehicle industry.

Headquartered in Plymouth, Mich., Metaldyne has annual revenues of approximately $1.8 billion. The company employs more than 6,300 employees at 33 facilities in 14 countries.

For more information, please visit www.metaldyne.com .

This entry was posted by Gold Mining on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Aluminium, Lead, Mining Equipment. Tags: America, Asahi Tec Corporation, chassis applications, Company, divestitures, Farmington Hills, Greenville, Illinois, Japan, metal, metal based components, Metaldyne Corporation, Michigan, Middleville, Niles, North, North America, North Carolina, oil, oil pumps, owned subsidiary, Plymouth, powertrain component supplier, products, quality product, Reorganization, Shizuoka, Stock, Structural, technology, Thomas A. Amato, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Unity, vibration control products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.