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The eBearing News
September 8, 2005
Dana and Daido Disband
U.S. Engine Bearing Joint Venture
copyright © 2005 eBearing Inc.
Terminating their joint venture in manufacturing bearings, Dana Corp.'s (USA, NYSE:
DCN)
Glacier Vandervell Engine Bearings Group and Daido Metal Company Ltd. (Japan, TSE:
7245)
bearing manufacturing operations, have split their two U.S. plants.
Dana takes full control of the Glacier Daido America engine bearing plant in Atlantic, Iowa, while
Daido takes control of the thinwall bearing and component plant in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
Dana's Glacier Vandervell Bearings plants in McConnelsville, Ohio and Caldwell, Ohio are not joint venture
facilities and are not affected. However, both are currently operating toward the latter part of
highly unusual one-year union contracts -- negotiated early this year in lieu of the
usual three-year agreements.
The Atlantic plant, built to produce heavywall bearings by Gould Clevite Engine Parts Division
in 1979, is located 90 miles southwest
of Des Moines. It had been part of the Dana Glacier - Daido joint venture since January 1, 2001.
Atlantic currently manufactures 20mm through 180mm half shell and flanged bimetal plain bearings.
Available materials are cast or sintered copper-lead, or aluminum alloys. Applications for
Atlantic-produced bearings are gasoline and diesel engines, and industrial manufacturing equipment.
Atlantic currently employs more than 300 people and had 2004 sales of approximately USD $47 million,
$14 million of which were transfer sales to other Dana operations.
Bellefontaine, located 45 miles northwest of Columbus, Ohio, is a thinwall bearing and component
manufacturing plant, which also produces strip. Covering over 210,000 square
feet, it produces engine bearings for OEM auto manufacturer customers and aftermarket bearings
marketed under the Clevite brand. Strip produced there is used by McConnelsville, Atlantic,
Caldwell and other plants. OEM customers include Honda's engine plant in Anna, Ohio, Nissan's engine
plant in Smyrna, Tennessee and Toyota in Georgetown, Kentucky.
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Bellefontaine plant
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Covering over 210,000 square feet, Bellefontaine employs 350 people and had 2004
sales of approximately $44 million, $26 million of which were transfer sales to other Dana operations.
By value, production is balanced between strip, OEM and aftermarket production.
Built by Detroit Aluminum and
Brass Co. in 1927, it eventually became an important component of Gould Corp's Clevite Engine Parts Division.
In 1985, J.P. Industries (after founder John Psarouthakis) acquired Clevite EPD. In late 1990, T&N plc (UK)
acquired J.P. Industries under is Glacier Vandervell bearings division -- only to be warned by the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission it would not be allowed to acquire any more bearing companies since
that would create an a market-dominant, anticompetitive combination.
In 1996, T&N entered into a joint venture with Daido Metal at the Bellefontaine plant, effective
January 1, 1997. Because Daido
also manufactures engine bearings, complaints to the FTC resulted in an investigation into charges
T&N was attempting to evade the FTC anticompetitive acquisition restriction by forming a joint venture
rather than a straight acquisition.
Federal-Mogul Corporation (USA) acquired T&N plc in 1998 for $3 billion, which included the entire
Glacier / Clevite Vandervell Bearings operation. However, before it would allow the acquisition to
be completed, the FTC forced Federal-Mogul to divest all of T&N's polymer and thinwall bearing operations;
meaning the Glacier Vandervell and Clevite businesses. F-M was also forced to sell off the McConnelsville
Strip Facility, which produced much of the cast copper-clad strip used in its bearings. F-M was only
allowed to keep the heavywall bearing business, which it sold off in 2001 to Miba AG and Waukesha Bearings.
Dana acquired those Glacier polymer and thinwall bearing manufacturing operations from F-M
for $430 million. In mid-2001, Dana divested the polymer bearing business to Goodrich, which
later spun it off to EnPro Industries.
Overall, Dana said it will take an $11 million charge in third quarter 2005 to account for the transaction.
Coincidentally, $11 million is the gain Dana booked in 2001 from its sale of the polymer bearing business.
In a statement, Dana said, "These transactions support our ongoing commitment to simplify our business, strengthen
our financial performance, and execute our core product strategies. The operations in Bellefontaine and
Angola are now better aligned with companies committed to their respective market niches. We thank the people
at Bellefontaine and Angold for their many years of outstanding service to Dana and our customers
and wish them the best going forward."
A year ago, Dana divested most of its Automotive Aftermarket Group, other than the bearing operations.
article: Cypress Group acquires Dana's Automotive Aftermarket Group
Daido Metal made no public comment regarding taking over the Bellefontaine plant or exiting its
Atlantic plant.
After the thinwall bearing line, Daido also produces heavywall bearings for off-highway,
industrial, marine and stationary engine applications. They are one of only a few manufacturers
of "super large" plan bearings up to 1,250mm OD, while their marine engine bearings are designed
for engines putting out over 70,000 horsepower.
Daido, like EnPro's Glacier, produces a wide array of mounted and unmounted polymer plain
bearings and slides, and plain steel bearings
and slides. They are used in air conditioners, office equipment, and a variety of other applications.
In Japan, Daido has five bearing manufacturing facilities. Two joint-venture facilities are in
Taiwan, with one each in Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand.
In early 2004, Daido announced a multi-year plan to greatly expand its production of bearings for
truck engines at both its main plant in Japan and a joint-venture facility in Thailand.
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- by Bruce A. Carr
from individual research,
tips and commercial sources.
Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
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eBearing.com ... for everything that moves™
Entire contents Copyright 1999-2008, eBearing Inc. All rights reserved.
eBearing.com and "... for everything that moves" are registered
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eBearing.com ... for everything that moves™
Entire contents Copyright © 1999-2008, eBearing Inc. All rights reserved.
eBearing.com and "... for everything that moves" are registered trademarks of eBearing Inc.
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