Freudenberg-NOK Purchases Detroit Gasket
27 August 1999
The World's Leading Supplier of Powertrain Sealing Products - Freudenberg-NOK - Purchases Detroit Gasket
PLYMOUTH, Mich., Aug. 26 -- In an agreement signed this week,
Freudenberg-NOK purchased Newport, Tenn.-based Detroit Gasket from Charlotte,
N.C.-based Indian Head Industries. This purchase rounds out Freudenberg-NOK's
powertrain sealing product offering. Terms were not disclosed.
Detroit Gasket will be fully integrated into Freudenberg-NOK's aftermarket
business -- which currently has annual sales of $100 million. Adding the
Detroit Gasket(R) brand name to Freudenberg-NOK's aftermarket product offering
will complement the company's TransTec(R) brand of transmission gasket sets --
which currently enjoys more than a 60 percent market share -- and will enable
Freudenberg-NOK to supply OE product-based engine gasket sets for aftermarket
applications.
The Detroit Gasket business of Freudenberg-NOK will continue to operate a
manufacturing facility and a distribution center in Newport, Tenn. The
facilities employ approximately 160 associates -- and provide customers with
thousands of package sets and tens of thousands of individual components,
including gaskets for cylinder heads, exhaust headers, intake manifolds, valve
covers, water pumps and oil pans.
"This acquisition, which complements Freudenberg-NOK's core competency of
OE powertrain sealing, creates a channel to distribute Freudenberg-NOK's OE
and aftermarket produced sealing products to the rebuilder market," said David
B. Gardner, president of Freudenberg-NOK's Aftermarket Division. "We will now
offer the same total seal and gasket product portfolio to our aftermarket
customers that we currently provide to our original equipment customers.
Additionally, this purchase will further strengthen the Freudenberg & NOK
Group's No. 1 global supplier position in seal and gasket sales."
He also said the expertise and knowledge of the Detroit Gasket sales force
and management -- including Vice President and General Manager Bryan D.
Schrandt -- will enhance Freudenberg-NOK's leadership position in the
aftermarket.
"Virtually any engine, anywhere in the world contains numerous
Freudenberg-NOK components," Schrandt said. "The strength of this product
offering and the technology it represents will add considerable value to the
Detroit Gasket product line."
The company also offers an assortment of gaskets to seal carburetors,
throttle bodies, distributors, air cleaners, fuel pumps, oil pumps, water
outlets, oil pan plugs and fuel injectors. Since 1923, Detroit Gasket has
manufactured gaskets for the automotive, high performance, marine and small
engine markets.
Freudenberg-NOK's aftermarket business currently packages and distributes
automotive transmission repair kits, power steering repair kits, brake kits
and components.
Plymouth, Mich.-based Freudenberg-NOK is part of the Freudenberg and NOK
Group Companies, which have total annual sales of more than $6 billion. With
global automotive sales of approximately $3.5 billion, the Freudenberg and NOK
Group ranks among the world's top 20 automotive suppliers and is one of only
eight in the top 100 that has global balance in each of the three major
automotive markets -- Asia, Europe and North America.
Through a global network of facilities spanning 24 countries with some
23,000 automotive employees worldwide, the supplier group offers its
automotive customers globally integrated products, including sealing packages
for transmissions, engines, brakes, axles and steering, NVH (noise, vibration
and harshness) components and packages, and all rubber, plastic and PTFE
components for suspension, electrical and fuel systems.
The Freudenberg and NOK Group also offers an extensive portfolio of
precision-molded products for the aerospace, appliance, business machine,
fluid power, marine, medical, off-highway equipment and recreational vehicle
markets. For more information, visit the Freudenberg-NOK web site at
http://www.freudenberg-nok.com