MAHLE Engine Components USA (a division of MAHLE GmbH, Germany; U.S. website) announced it will close the Clevite engine bearing and related strip plant in Caldwell, Ohio by the end of next year. Just over 330 employees are affected.

Now operating under its Bearing Division, Caldwell is one of three Clevite engine bearing and component plants MAHLE acquired from Dana Corp. in March 2007.

article: Dana sells engine bearing and components business to MAHLE
[ includes significant business history and plant details ]
Shortly before that, Dana and Daido ended a unique plant-sharing joint venture for engine bearing manufacturing.

article: Dana and Daido disband U.S. engine bearing joint venture
[ includes significant business history and plant details ]
Dana had declared the bearing manufacturing operations non-core back in mid-2005, but lack of interest and Dana's subsequent bankruptcy filing intervened to slow the sale. By the time MAHLE was actually able to complete the purchase, delays had been made worse by the bankruptcy proceedings, and the U.S. auto part market had meanwhile gone into free fall.

Of the three, Caldwell's automotive-oriented thinwall plant had reportedly been running the most significantly under capacity.

When it acquired the plants, MAHLE said: "The acquisition of Dana's engine hard parts business would complement our worldwide market position particularly in the areas of piston rings and engine bearings, as well as in the aftermarket for engine parts."

But even in announcing the acquisitions, MAHLE began warning of, "appropriate restructuring measures" for Dana's engine bearing businesses.

Prof. Dr. Heinz K. Junker, CEO of MAHLE Group Management Board, was direct: "As Dana Corporation has not considered the engine hard parts business as one of its core business segments for some time, it will be a major task to integrate the Dana locations into the existing MAHLE production network by appropriate restructuring measures, in order to facilitate all necessary synergy effects for the future."

All of Caldwell's 332 employees will be out of work as production shifts to other facilities, unless some are picked up by the nearby McConnelsville plant. Caldwell workers are represented by the United Steelworkers.

Dan Moody, Bearing Product Group VP, said: "A decision to close an operation is an extremely difficult one, and we regret the impact upon our affected employees. However, this is a necessary strategic business decision that will realign our investment and capacity to enhance the long-term competitiveness and performance of our bearings business."

MAHLE's purchase of Dana's bearing business included three plants: Atlantic, Iowa; and two plants in east central Ohio: McConnelsville and Caldwell.

Caldwell is a vertically integrated facility, including a strip mill, although raw materials also come from outside suppliers such as the Daido plant in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

Strip production will move only a few miles west, to its sister plant in McConnelsville, which may save some jobs which follow it there.

Larger, heavywall engine bearing production and equipment will move to the Atlantic plant, which has specialized in that type of bearing.

MAHLE Group GmbH is the leading producer of virtually every engine component other than bearings -- pistons, rings, cylinder liners, engine blocks, piston pins, cam followers, valve seats, valve guides, air filters, oil filters, camshafts and valves.

Bearings are an integral part of the OEM business. For example, MAHLE ships big-end bearings as a component in the OEM "power cell unit" program, supplying a complete cylinder assembly: piston with rings and pin, cylinder liner and connecting rod with bearings, all developed, engineered, manufactured and delivered as a set.

It was not immediately clear if Caldwell's other component production will simply end, or if it will continue with the equipment moved to other MAHLE locations.

DISCLAIMER: Over 30 years ago, this author's first bearing industry exposure came via undergraduate part-time engineering positions with Cleveland Graphite Bronze / Gould / Imperial Clevite Engine Parts Division, which at one time operated all of the plants mentioned in this article. The author has worked in all of these facilities, and several others now shuttered.