- Ford Motor Company, Automotive Components Holdings and Zeledyne have completed the sale of the ACH Glass business and its three plants.
- This sale is the fourth for ACH and the second involving a U.S. business.
- This agreement represents important progress with the ACH strategy, which was created to reduce Ford’s material costs over time while preserving jobs and maintaining the flow of high-quality components to Ford.
Dearborn, Mich., April 14, 2008 – Ford Motor Company, Automotive Components Holdings and Zeledyne today announced the sale of the ACH Glass business and its plants in Nashville, Tenn., and Tulsa, Okla., and its subsidiary Vidriocar in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Also included are the leases for its warehouse in Lebanon, Tenn, and its engineering offices in Allen Park, Mich.
The sale is the fourth for ACH and the second involving a U.S. business. With the completion of this sale and related employee transfers, ACH now has eight plants supported by about 9,000 leased hourly and salaried employees, down from 17 plants and 23,000 leased employees at its start in October 2005.
“This agreement represents a major milestone in the implementation of our ACH strategy and Ford’s restructuring effort,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas. “We continue working hard and focusing on our core business – bringing to market more top-quality products people truly want.”
“We are working aggressively to complete the sale of more ACH plants this year,” said Bill Connelly, ACH CEO.
Negotiations continue for the sale of additional ACH plants for which MOUs have been signed. Earlier ACH sales involved the fuel rail business located in the ACH subsidiary in El Jarudo, Mexico; the power transfer unit business located in the Converca Plant in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico; and the driveshaft business, which is being relocated from the ACH plant in Monroe, Mich., to a new site in southeast Michigan.
Zeledyne was formed for this acquisition by Robert Price, a Tulsa-based private investor. The management team is led by CEO Michael J. McCarney, a respected leader who retired from Ford Motor Company with more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing and business, including two years as president of Ford’s South East Asian Operations.
“These operations represent a tremendous opportunity for Zeledyne,” said Price, Zeledyne chairman. “We have plans to grow all three areas of the business: automotive glass products as original equipment; automotive aftermarket glass; and architectural glass.”
About 1,600 employees in the U.S. and Mexico work at the Glass operations, which is a leading manufacturer of OEM and Carlite® replacement automotive glass as well as Versalux® architectural glass. Last year the automotive glass products, including windshields, backlites and door glass, were installed in more than 2.7 million vehicles as either original or replacement parts. Versalux® architectural glass can be found on many notable buildings around the world, from Ford Field in Detroit to casinos in China and hotels in Dubai.
Automotive Components Holdings was established by Ford Motor Company in October 2005 to ensure the flow of quality components and systems to Ford while ACH facilities, formerly owned by Visteon, were prepared for sale or closure.
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents. With about 245,000 employees and about 100 plants worldwide, the company’s core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.
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