Dana Corporation Reorganizes Engine Products Group For Stronger Customer Focus
22 July 1997
Dana Corporation Reorganizes Engine Products Group For Stronger Customer Focus
TOLEDO, Ohio, July 22 -- Dana Corporation today
announced the consolidation of two divisions of its Engine Products Group into
one operating structure that will link manufacturing, sales, and service more
closely with its customers.
Effective Sept. 1, 1997, the Perfect Circle administrative and engineering
functions currently housed in Richmond, Ind., will be relocated and
consolidated with similar operations at the group's Sealed Power facility in
Muskegon, Mich. Concurrent with this move will be the formal renaming of the
division as the Perfect Circle Sealed Power Division.
Hugo Ferreira, Dana group vice president, Engine Products, said that a
primary reason for this consolidation is to focus more closely on customer
service. "This move will streamline our customer service by better
coordinating functions to provide one-stop shopping."
The Perfect Circle Sealed Power Division manufactures piston rings,
cylinder liners, and heavy-duty steel camshafts at 14 facilities in six U.S.
states. With this announcement it becomes the singular division within Dana's
Engine Products Group in the United States. Additionally, the group operates
17 facilities in eight other countries throughout North America, South
America, and Europe.
One of Dana's eight core businesses, engine products accounted for sales
of $580 million in 1996. Dana's other core businesses are axles, driveshafts,
structural components, sealing products, filtration products, industrial
products, and leasing services.
The Sealed Power components of the Engine Products Group were added
earlier this year when Dana acquired the global assets of the Sealed Power
Division of SPX Corporation.
The cost savings resulting from this consolidation also will assist the
Engine Products Group in meeting Dana's corporate financial objectives.
Roughly one-third of the approximately 60 Dana people currently employed
at the affected operations in Richmond will relocate to Muskegon. It is
anticipated that others may be offered opportunities at the Perfect Circle
Sealed Power cylinder liner facility in Richmond, which will be expanded when
similar operations from Rochester, Ind., are moved there.
The action is the latest in a series of strategic moves that Dana has
taken in 1997 to strengthen its core businesses. Among them, Dana has
announced agreements to sell its transmission business, leaf spring
manufacturing assets, global vehicular clutch business, and hydraulic cylinder
operations. Additionally, Dana has sold its heavy-truck structural component
operation and European warehouse distribution facilities and has initiated a
significant rationalization plan at its Perfect Circle Europe operations in
France.
Dana also has announced its intention to purchase Eaton Corporation's
global axle and brake operations and has purchased Clark-Hurth Components;
Flexon, Inc., a manufacturer of a full line of fuel filters;
Thermoplast+Apparatebau GmbH, an injection molding company; and Industrias
Orlando Stevaux Ltda, a manufacturer of gaskets and oil seals.
Dana Corporation is a global leader in the engineering, manufacture, and
distribution of products and systems for the vehicular, industrial, and off-
highway markets. Its leasing services operation was a recipient of the 1996
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Founded in 1904 and based in
Toledo, Ohio, Dana operates facilities in 30 countries and employs more than
48,000 people. Its 1996 sales were $7.7 billion. The Internet address for
Dana's home page is http://www.dana.com.
SOURCE Dana Corporation