Advantages of Die Castings Used for Trucks and Cars. From parts intricate to simple, die casting can shape them all. This metal working process has important applications to the automotive industry. Vehicle assembly companies nowadays demand die castings used for …
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Aluminum Auto Parts for Cars
Aluminum Auto Parts for Cars. For a car to properly work, it has to make use of a number of parts. Owners of these machines would of course want to be able to trust and rely on each part of their car so that when they use it, they know that nothing can go wrong. Of course, it cannot be avoided that one day something is going to give. The best thing that any car owner can do is lessen the risk of something breaking in the middle of the road. With that, car manufacturers are starting to realize the efficiency of making use of Aluminum Car Parts.
Aluminum has been known to be one of the toughest and most durable materials in the whole world. At the same time, it is relatively cheap and easy to acquire aluminum as it can be mined almost everywhere. Aluminum Auto Parts are also lighter compared to using steel parts, which makes the car lighter overall as well. This significantly proves the performance of the car and its reliability. Because of these characteristics, aluminum has been said to be more valuable than gold.
To craft Aluminum Auto Parts fast and consistent in quality, manufacturers can make use of die casting. This is the process wherein the material, in this case aluminum, will be turned into liquid and then poured into molds. The molds cavity will shape the liquid into the desired shape of the manufacturer. Then this will be allowed to solidify. The resulting Aluminum Auto Parts are almost identical because of using the same die casting tooling over and over again.
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures custom metal parts to their customer. If you would like more information about Kinetic Die Casting, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
Posted in Auto Parts
Tagged Aluminum Auto Parts, auto parts, car parts, die casting tooling
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Auto Parts Supplier Cooper-Standard Filed Chapter 11
NOVI, MICH. (Aug. 5, 1:15 p.m. ET) — The parent company of Novi, Mich.-based auto supplier Cooper-Standard Automotive Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Aug. 4, saying it can’t pay back its $1.17 billion in debt.
Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. and its U.S subsidiaries filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., making it the 17th major U.S. auto supplier to file for bankruptcy protection this year, according to Automotive News.
The company, which has about 16,000 employees worldwide, makes door, body and sunroof seals and fluid handling systems. It ranks No. 65 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide sales to automakers of $2.60 billion in 2008.
It blames the downturn in U.S. auto sales for its troubles, and said it will continue to operate as it works out a restructuring plan with its creditors.
The plan under discussion now would reduce Cooper-Standard’s debt to $350 million, the company said.
Cooper-Standard’s largest unsecured creditors include Delaware-based Wilmington Trust Co. ($313 million senior note and $200 million senior note), Ohio’s environmental protection agency ($2.7 million) and Farmington Hills-based Robert Bosch LLC ($713,782), according to the bankruptcy filings.
“The company intends to continue operating ‘business as usual’ during the reorganization process and anticipates no interruption in its supply to customers,” Cooper-Standard said in a statement.
Some current lenders have agreed to provide Cooper-Standard with up to $175 million in debtor-in-possession financing, subject to court approval.
Cooper-Standard Automotive Canada Ltd. will seek relief under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, the company said in a statement.
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures zinc and aluminium die casting. If you would like a quote, please visit our website:Die Casting quote
U.S. Treasury Preparing for Chrysler Bankruptcy
Treasury Preparing for Chrysler Bankruptcy. The UAW announced that a settlement agreement has been reached with Chrysler, Fiat and the U.S. Treasury Department. When Chrysler’s Feb. 17 viability plan was rejected, President Obama gave Chrysler workers and the company a second chance, union officials said. This concessionary agreement, while painful, takes advantage of this opportunity.
The settlement agreement, subject to ratification by UAW members at Chrysler, meets the requirements of U.S. Treasury Department loans to the company. It includes modifications to the union’s 2007 collective bargaining agreement and the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trust.
Peter Morici, an economics professor at the University of Maryland, and keynote speaker at NADCA’s upcoming Metalcasting Government Affairs Conference remarked that the treasury plan could affect the wallets of taxpayers. “The Treasury plan reportedly preempts the bankruptcy judge by guaranteeing worker pensions and retiree health care benefits. Similarly, this sets a dangerous precedent for General Motors and Ford.” Morici stated.
Morici further commented, “Obama’s favoritism toward the union in these negotiations is a clear example of political expediency imposing grave economic costs. Specifically, Chapter 11 makes the potential deal with Fiat to provide small car designs to be built in Chrysler factories much less likely. Hence, the company that emerges from Chapter 11 will be much smaller than the one that would have emerged through the task force’s mediation, because the company that emerges from bankruptcy may not have small cars to make at a time when the market wants them. More of Chrysler’s car assembly plants will be permanently shuttered.”
Kinetic Die Casting utilizes die casting to manufacture parts like aluminum car parts, airplane parts, lighting parts and much, much more. If you would like to request a quote, please visit our website:Die Casting quote
Marathon Automotive Group sold to Revstone
Marathon Automotive Group acquired SPX’s Contech Division (die casting) in 2007 for $146 million. It has since filed for bankruptcy. The PBGC has agreed to accept the pension plan and Marathon wants to sell the company to Revstone Industries, LLC., for $14 million and assumption of unspecified liabilities. The fly in the ointment? Ford Motor Co., Automotive Components Holdings LLC, BMW AG and Delphi filed a joint objection to the sale.
From the Detroit News, Tuesday, May 26, 2009:
PBGC to take over auto supplier Contech’s pension plan
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington — The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation said Tuesday it will assume responsibility for a bankrupt Michigan auto supplier’s underfunded pension plan.
The government’s pension insurer will take over Portage-based Contech US LLC’s pension plan covering 532 workers and retirees effective immediately, the agency said in a statement.
According to PBGC estimates, the Contech US LLC Pension Plan is 38 percent funded, with assets of $8.4 million to cover benefit liabilities of $22 million. The agency expects to cover $12 million of the $13.6 million shortfall.
Contech LLC sought bankruptcy protection in January in Detroit after it had been acquired in 2007 by investment firm Marathon Asset Management LLC. It has nine U.S. plants, with its Walled Lake plant responsible for much of its revenue.
“This action is an integral part of our ongoing efforts to restructure Contech and meet the challenges of the automotive industry going forward. We continue to work closely with our lenders and customers to reach a consensus on the remaining changes that are necessary,” said Morris Rowlett, chairman & CEO of Contech in a statement in January when the company sought bankruptcy protection.
The PBGC will take over the assets and use insurance funds to pay guaranteed benefits earned under the plan, which ends Tuesday.
Retirees and beneficiaries will continue to receive monthly benefit checks without interruption, and future participants will receive their pensions when they are eligible to retire, the PBGC said.
Within the next several weeks, the PBGC will send notification letters to all participants in the Contech plan detailing the change.
Privately held Contech was founded in 1950 and builds light metal die casting and machining for automobile and parts manufacturers.
The company was sold from former owner SPX Corp. to Marathon Asset Management, a private equity firm, in 2007. Contech’s U.K. subsidiary based in Wales is not in bankruptcy.
Contech has six casting facilities in Michigan, Indiana and Tennessee, and had sales of $312 million in 2007, but saw sales fall to $223 million in 2008 as auto sales plummeted.
Marathon has sought to use Section 363 of the bankruptcy code to sell nearly all of Contech’s casting assets to Revstone Industries LLC.
Revstone would pay $14 million and assume certain liabilities from its casting facilities under the proposed sale.
Last week, several major customers of Contech filed an objection to the sale.
Ford Motor Co., Automotive Components Holdings LLC, BMW AG and Delphi filed a joint objection to the sale. Ford and Delphi both have said they won’t accept Revstone as a replacement supplier.
dshepardson@detnews.com (202) 662-8735
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures products like aluminum hardware, and aluminum boxes. If you would like more information on Kinetic Die Casting, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
Revstone to Purchase Auto Parts Suppliers
For some auto parts suppliers, the end of the rocky road of the past couple years may be over as a few sell off assets.
Intermet Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 on Aug. 12, may finally return to smooth pavement. The Fort Worth auto parts maker held an auction on Monday where Revstone Industries LLC, a privately held company based in Paris, Ky., was the winning bidder. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read more here.)
This was second bankruptcy filing since Sept. 29, 2004, for Intermet. Interestingly, the Intermet deal was Revstone’s second distressed acquisition of late. In May, it purchased six plants from bankrupt auto parts maker Contech LLC. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read about the Contech deal here.)
In other news, publicly traded ArvinMeritor Inc. (NYSE:ARM) overcame a year-long sale process, announcing Thursday an agreement to sell its stakes in two light-vehicle businesses that have been on the block since October 2008.
The Troy, Mich., company agreed to offload its 57% stake in a vehicle suspension unit to joint venture partner Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing Co., along with a 51% stake in Gabriel de Venezuela, which manufactures parts for countries throughout South America. The two businesses made up around 45% of the company’s 2008 chassis sales.
Values for the light-vehicle businesses were not disclosed, but any progress that suppliers make in this volatile sector does hold some weight. Alan Baum, an analyst at the Planning Edge Inc. in Birmingham, Mich., said divesting these particular units adjusts ArvinMeritor’s focus back to its core, even though they were small pieces of the overall operation.
But good things don’t always come to those who wait.
Fellow auto parts maker Lear Corp. (NYSE:LEA) has been exploring ways to restructure its debt out of court. However, debtholders are now bracing for a bankruptcy filing as soon as this week. The Southfield, Mich.-based company is in breach of debt covenants with its largest lenders. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read more about Lear’s potential bankruptcy here.) – Anthony Noto
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures custom metal parts to their customer. If you would like more information about Kinetic Die Casting, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
