January 26, 2009
ANR sites to stay open
under two new owners
By Brad Dawson
Rubber & Plastics News Staff
CEREDO, W.Va.—Foundering American
National Rubber Inc. has sold its two factories to separate buyers, and the new owners
are looking to rebuild the operations despite
a difficult economic environment.
D&B Industrial Group purchased the assets of ANR’s closed-cell sponge rubber business, including its 100,000-sq.-ft. Ceredo facility, at bank foreclosure Dec. 12. The same
day, FabSol L.L.C. announced it acquired
ANR’s automotive rubber fabrication site in
Cadiz, Ky. Financial details of the transactions weren’t disclosed.
While ANR closed the Ceredo plant and
laid off most of its work force in Cadiz before
the sales, the new owners had both facilities
up and running by Dec. 15. The fabrication
operation in Ceredo restarted initially, and
by Jan. 5 the mill operation was running,
said Doug Kinney, one of the principals with
Georgetown, Del.-based D&B.
ANR’s troubles leading up to the divestiture were heavy debt, high operating costs
See ANR, page 20
Longitudinal polyester yarn is applied as part of the braiding process for industrial hose be-
ing produced at Eaton Corp.’s Newbern, Tenn., factory. The company is expanding the plant
as part of its plan to formalize its industrial hose business.
Eaton solidifies its base
in industrial hose market
By Bruce Meyer
Rubber & Plastics News Staff
CLEVELAND, Tenn.—Eaton Corp. has collected quite an array of industrial hose products through acquisitions over the past decade,
and now the firm is formalizing that side of its
business with the creation of a new group.
The formation of Eaton Industrial Hose Solutions will include the closure of one factory,
expansion of another, a reshuffling of the
sales staff and restructuring of brands within
the line.
The new group will be headed by Business
Unit Manager Joe Mika and based in Cleveland, Tenn., where the main distribution center for Eaton’s industrial hose products also
is located. The Eaton Industrial Hose Solutions business is part of the company’s Fluid
Conveyance Division, which itself is part of
Eaton Hydraulics.
Manufacturing for the rubber industrial
hose line will be centered at a nearby factory
in Newbern, Tenn., with help from other
See Eaton, page 20
In this chart prepared by Dennis Virag, president of Automotive
Consulting Group, a major decline in light vehicle sales occurs once
every decade, each associated with a major disruption or price hike.
’Til death
do us part
Intimate relationship with faltering auto
makers likely to spell trouble in 2009
By Mike McNulty
Rubber & Plastics News Staff
A
utomotive industry suppliers should be prepared for another
rocky ride in 2009.
The collapse of automotive sales in the U.S. and globally
could potentially cause 25 to 30 percent of auto industry parts producers to fail in the next year and a half, predicted Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Mich.
He doesn’t see an upturn in the economy until
the second half of 2010.
William Ridenour, president of Newbury,
Ohio-headquartered Polymer TransAction Advisors Inc., agrees there will be a high failure rate
and heavy job losses in 2009, estimating that between 25 and 40 percent of all North American
automotive suppliers will face foreclosure, close
one or more plants, or file for bankruptcy in
2009.
Ridenour
The Detroit 3 segment of the North American automotive industry—which supports nearly 4 million jobs in North America if Tier 1
and Tier 2 suppliers and other businesses that support them are included—will fall by at least one-third in size in 2009 as the auto companies shrink, close plants, and abandon underperforming auto and
truck platforms, according to Ridenour.
The ripple effect of the streamlining will result in several thousand
job losses in the auto supplier sector, he said. The combined $20.9 billion automotive bailout—$17.6 billion from the U.S. government,
$3.3 billion from Canada—won’t prevent that from occurring, he said.
The bailout “does not cure the issue of a predicted 30-40 percent decline in 2009 North American auto OEM sales,” Ridenour said. “In
our opinion, there is no way for many auto suppliers to avoid major
restructuring or possible plant and/or business shutdown.”
On the other hand, he said that although the original equipment
market is in dire straits, many tire manufacturers have strong after-
See Auto, page 22
For more articles forecasting what is in store for the rubber
industry in 2009, see page 10.
Sign of the times
Fenner expects efficiency initiatives, cutting of 290 jobs
worldwide will save the firm $15
million per year . . . . . . . Page 4
Titan scales back
Titan has laid off 83 workers
and is beginning a “rolling shutdown” at its farm tire plant in
Freeport, Ill. . . . . . . . . . Page 6
