40 posts tagged “dana”

22/1/09

Source: http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20090122/BUSINESS/901220309

Dana Corp. has laid off 60 of its hourly and salaried employees from its manufacturing plant in Humboldt.

The reductions leave a total of 225 workers at the plant that manufactures axles for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

The layoffs come as Dana struggles worldwide to reduce manufacturing costs in the wake of falling demand for its products, wrote Chuck Hartlage, spokesman for the company, in an e-mail to The Jackson Sun.

The company's 2008 third quarter earnings release states that Dana Corp's. sales fell 9 percent, to about $1.93 million, compared with the same period in 2007, "primarily because of lower vehicle production in North America."

Hartlage did not comment on any possible severance package being offered to those employees being laid off.

He also was unable to say if the Humboldt plant was one of up to 10 plants Dana is considering closing this year and in 2010, according to Dana's third-quarter 2008 report found on the company's Web site.

"We have not identified these facilities yet," he wrote.

The company's third quarter report also states that Dana will reduce its workforce by 5,000 this year, instead of a previously announced 3,000.

Gibson County's November unadjusted unemployment rate was 9.9 percent, an increase of 2.7 percent from last November's adjusted rate. The continued loss of jobs in the county is beginning to cause a strain on families and businesses, said Gibson County Mayor Joe Shepard.

"When a small community of people lose their jobs," he said, "it affects a whole lot more than those who lose the job, because it is a trickle-down effect."

Last year, Dana laid off 33 percent of its U.S. hourly employees and 25 percent of its U.S. salaried employees in response to the U.S. and global automotive slow down, Hartlage wrote.

Dana acquired its Humboldt plant through the acquisition of Eaton Corp.'s heavy-axle business in 1998. Dana closed its warehouse in Humboldt about a year ago. The company operates several facilities in Crossville, Gordonsville and Paris.

13/1/09

Source: http://www.anotherfp.com/newsite/story2.php?id=79

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today said it has lowered its ratings on Toledo, Ohio-based Dana Holding Corp., (NYSE:DAN) including the corporate credit rating, which was lowered to 'B' from 'B+'. The ratings were also removed from CreditWatch, where they had been placed with negative implications on Nov. 13, 2008. The outlook is negative.

"The downgrade reflects our view that very weak market conditions in most of its business segments in 2009 will hinder the company's post-bankruptcy restructuring efforts," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Nancy Messer. "We expect revenues to be reduced by weak auto sales and production in North America, weak auto sales in Europe, and the U.S. recession, which has stalled the recovery of commercial truck sales. Lacking an expanding revenue base, we believe the benefit from Dana's ongoing initiative to optimize its manufacturing footprint will fall short of our previous near-term expectations," she continued. For example, for the last three months of 2008, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of light-vehicle sales in the U.S. was below 11 million units, and we expect sales in 2009 to be 10 million units, 24% below 2008 actual sales.

In 2008, lower automaker production volumes, resulting from deteriorated vehicle demand in North America and Europe, and shifts in consumer preference reduced Dana's financial results. In addition, the company absorbed higher commodity costs than expected in 2008. Low production volumes and an unfavorable product mix more than offset the benefit of improved pricing negotiated on certain automaker contracts during bankruptcy. Third-quarter earnings were, therefore, very weak. We expect free cash flow to be negative in 2008 and 2009, after capital spending, and leverage to remain high at year-end 2009.

The rating reflects Dana's vulnerable business risk profile and highly leveraged financial risk profile as a significant participant in the global automotive market, manufacturing under-the-vehicle products such as axles, driveshafts, and other structural, sealing, and thermal products. Dana's customers are original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of vehicles in the light-vehicle, heavy-duty commercial, and heavy off-road markets. Although the three Michigan-based OEMs account for about 27% of Dana's global sales, its axle and driveshaft businesses depend substantially on continued business from Ford Motor Co., which has reduced production volumes significantly for the first quarter of 2009. Dana has significant exposure to light trucks and SUVs, the sales of which have fallen dramatically, particularly in 2008, as consumer sentiment has shifted to passenger cars in response to volatile gasoline prices.

The outlook on Dana is negative. We could lower the ratings if Dana's liquidity begins to tighten because of greater cash use than expected or weak EBITDA caused by increased severity or duration of adverse market conditions. In our opinion, Dana needs to achieve adjusted EBITDA of $500 million annually for the rating, given its pension- and lease-adjusted total debt of $2.5 billion. We do not expect the company to pursue transforming acquisitions or large dividend payouts that could pressure credit ratios in the year ahead.

13/1/09

Source: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/jan/13/dana-lays-45-henderson-ky-plant/

Dana Corp.'s truck axle plant has laid off 45 workers indefinitely and has another 50 on a voluntary layoff through the end of this week, a company spokesman confirmed Monday.

Corporate spokesman Chuck Hartlage cited "reduced production requirements from customers."

The Henderson plant assembles axles for medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks. It had been employing approximately 400 people here.

The trucking industry has sharply reduced its purchases of tractor-trailer rigs in response to the nation's recession, impacting suppliers such as Dana as well as Evansville-based Accuride Corp.

Accuride, which produces steel rims and wheels for trucks and trailers at its plant in Henderson, shut down its second shift earlier this month and laid off 27 of its 200 workers here.

It closed a 130-employee aluminum truck wheel plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

In November, Accuride said it expects large Class 8 truck sales to drop to 200,000 units this year, compared with a record of nearly 378,000 in 2006. At the time, the company said it didn't expect sales to rebound until the last half of 2009 at the earliest.

Research and forecasting company FTR Associates said last week that North American Class 8 truck orders in December fell to the lowest level in more than six years.

December orders were down 45 percent from December 2007, which foretold "a very soft start to 2009," FTR said.

7/11/08

Source: http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081107/BIZ/811070382

Plummeting auto sales continue to take a toll on auto parts supplier Dana Holding Corp.

The company, which employs 430 in an axle plant in Fort Wayne, announced Thursday that it would shut 10 plants by the end of 2010 and cut 5,000 workers this year. That was 2,000 more than the 3,000 announced earlier in the year.

There was no word Thursday on whether Dana’s Fort Wayne plant would be among those to be closed or whether its employees would be laid off.

“There is no list at this point,” corporate communications director Chuck Hartlage said. “We’ll be meeting with our union partners to make decisions about that.”

Representatives of the union that represents Fort Wayne Dana workers, United Steel Workers Local 903, couldn’t be reached Thursday for comment.

At its Fort Wayne plant, Dana makes light axles used in pickups and sport utility vehicles made by Chrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp.

The auto companies this week said their sales for October were their worst in decades.

Hartlage blamed the bad auto sales for parts orders that have been falling “quickly and dramatically.”

Both GM and Ford are scheduled to release third-quarter results this morning. Both companies have said that factory production must reflect declining sales, which means job cuts.

According to Ford’s top sales analyst and two people briefed on GM’s plans, neither automaker is planning to announce factory closures, although both are likely to cut production by eliminating shifts and imposing overtime bans or temporary plant shutdowns.

The people did not want to be identified because GM’s plans are confidential.

Toledo-based Dana announced the closures and job cuts as it released its third-quarter earnings.

Its sales were $1.93 billion, a 9 percent decrease from $2.13 billion in the same period in 2007.

Dana’s net loss for the three months ended Sept. 30 was $271 million. It lost $69 million during the same period in 2007.

That equates to a loss of $2.79 a share, compared with 46 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Dana emerged in January after almost two years in bankruptcy.

 6/11/08

Source: http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/11/06/dana-auto-vehicles-markets-equity-cx_ra_1106markets35.html

As the losses pile up, auto parts maker Dana Holdings announced it will try to control the damage by slashing jobs and shuttering plants.

On Thursday, Dana Holdings  reported a whopping third-quarter loss as the crippling crisis in the auto market slammed the company.

"The economic and market challenges we've faced all year were particularly difficult in the third quarter," said Executive Chairman John Devine. "The combination of lower industry volumes and peaking steel prices hit us sharply this quarter."

Dana’s shares fell 10.1%, or 19 cents, to $1.70 in afternoon trading.

Devine said the company expects to close 10 additional plants in 2009 and 2010, and will slash an additional 2,000 jobs. He added that Dana anticipates taking a charge of between $100.0 million and $150.0 million for its plant closures, but will likely save $40.0 million annually once the plants are closed.

The company said it was talking to lenders about changing the terms on its credit facility because it will not be able to meet its financial covenants as of Dec. 31. Dana’s Chief Financial Officer Jim Yost expects to complete an amendment to the facility with lenders in the next few weeks.

Dana only emerged from bankruptcy in February of this year. The company posted a third-quarter net loss of $271.0 million, or $2.78 per share, including an $8.0 million dividend payout to preferred shareholders, down from a loss of $69.0 million, or 42 cents per share, in the prior year.

Sales slumped 9.0%, to $1.9 billion, due to lower vehicle production in North America. The company was also hit by volatile steel prices and the ailing equity markets, Yost said.

The company forecast declines of up to 12.0% in 2009 revenue to a range of $7.2 billion and $7.3 billion, down from a projected $8.2 billion this year, because of the weak North American market.

Last week, car and truck parts maker ArvinMeritor announced it is slashing 7.0%, or 1,250 jobs, of its workforce. It's also looking at alternatives to a spin-off of its car parts unit due to the turmoil in the credit and financial markets. The company is mulling a sale of the unit.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 31, American Axle & Manufacturing reported a third-quarter loss, because of production cuts by major customers due to the weakening auto market.

Job cuts have also recently been announced by Federal-Mogul and Tenneco.

17/10/08

Source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Oct/20081017Busi001.asp

Columbia’s Dana Corp. auto parts manufacturing plant is cutting 45 jobs as it phases out production of a type of axle currently being supplied to General Motors, a spokesman for the local plant said yesterday.

Max Dunlap said the possibility of the layoffs was first communicated to employees in July and was formally announced last month. He said the 45 jobs - which will be cut by Dec. 1 - are in addition to the 29 employees let go this summer because of the general weakness in the automotive industry.

"Market conditions are difficult and continue to deteriorate," Dunlap wrote in an e-mail response to questions. "Additional cuts are possible if sales reductions outpace our normal attrition rate."

Toledo, Ohio-based Dana Corp. supplies brakes, axles and other parts to auto manufacturers and employs about 35,000 people in 26 countries. Dana Corp.’s Columbia plant at 2400 LeMone Industrial Blvd. manufactures axles for Ford, General Motors and Nissan vehicles and currently employs 252 people, which is down from 366 last year.

Until recently, Dunlap said, the plant was able to avoid permanent layoffs through normal employee departures. But with volatile economic conditions hitting an already struggling industry, he said it became clear that slow vehicle sales would not rebound anytime soon.

"Higher gas prices, tighter credit and lower consumer confidence resulted in substantial vehicle sales reductions in the second and third quarters of this year," Dunlap wrote, adding that current auto sales are down about one-third from this time last year and Dana’s employment level has dropped by the same amount.

In its second-quarter filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Dana Corp. reported $140 million in net losses, compared with $133 million in the second quarter of 2007. Gary Convis, CEO of Dana Holding Corp., said in an Aug. 7 statement that the company would scale down its North American operations through plant consolidations and about 3,000 layoffs. The company’s third-quarter results are expected to be released Nov. 6.

"This latest announcement is a stark reminder of the difficulties in the automotive sector and the conditions that are expected to continue well into 2009," Dunlap wrote.

Bernie Andrews, president of Regional Economic Development Inc., said the news is unfortunate, but he said it likely will have little impact on the local economy and employment base. He said manufacturing jobs make up about 9 percent of the work force.

"Manufacturing jobs in Boone County have historically been a small percentage and getting smaller," he said. "It’s unfortunate and bad timing, but layoffs are always bad timing. There’s always things nationally you can’t control, and the auto market right now is certainly one of those things."

2/10/08

Source: http://dana.mediaroom.com/index.php/press_releases/2164

Dana Holding Corporation (NYSE: DAN) announced today that it has drawn $200 million in principal amount under its existing $650 million secured revolving credit facility to solidify its liquidity during the current uncertainty in the financial markets.

"Drawing down these funds is a prudent liquidity measure," said Dana Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer James A. Yost. "Ensuring access to our liquidity to the fullest extent possible at a time of ambiguity in the capital markets is in the best interest of our customers, suppliers, shareholders, and employees."

Yost added that drawing the revolver provides additional strength to the company's cash position. Prior to the draw, Dana had more than $1 billion on hand. The additional liquidity will be available to support seasonal working capital needs and for other ordinary business needs.

The $650 million secured revolving credit facility was established in January 2008 with a consortium of banks and provides liquidity that Dana can draw on from time to time in order to fund working capital and other needs. Following this draw, Dana has access to additional borrowing capacity from the revolving credit facility as well as its international credit facilities.

10/9/08

Source: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8979142

A man who retired five years ago from auto parts maker Dana Corp. allegedly filled a pole barn with a stolen cache of Dana products and sold them on eBay.

Jene A. Chadwell is accused of stealing so many axle assemblies, bolts, bearings and other products that investigators needed a semitrailer to haul away the $130,000 worth of parts.

"Everyone was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the items that Jene Chadwell had in his possession," Indiana State Police Detective Mark Heffelfinger wrote in a probable cause affidavit filed in Allen Superior Court.

Chadwell, 68, was charged with receiving stolen property Sept. 3. Heffelfinger said Tuesday that he did not know whether Chadwell had been arrested, and there was no record of him at the Allen County Jail.

A woman identified herself as Chadwell's wife name said he had no comment when The Associated Press called his home in Yoder, about 10 miles south of Fort Wayne, on Tuesday.

State police searched Chadwell's 40 by 80 foot pole barn in April, and the parts were hauled away.

According to the affidavit, a security contractor with Dana contacted state police after he learned early in 2007 that Chadwell had been selling parts made by Dana on eBay. Some of the parts had been used for testing purposes and were supposed to have been destroyed, the affidavit said, and Dana sent Chadwell a letter advising him to stop selling the items.

Chadwell's attorneys responded that while Chadwell did have Dana parts in his possession, he had acquired them legally, the affidavit said. The letter said some parts were sold, bartered for or given to him, and that some were leftovers given to him by suppliers or vendors during the 30 years he worked at the Fort Wayne plant before he retired in 2003. The letter said Chadwell had no intention of selling any more parts.

The affidavit said information from eBay and Dana's security contractor showed that between December 2006 and March 2007 Chadwell had sold 25 items that could have been from the Fort Wayne plant.

A Michigan man who allegedly bought some of the parts on eBay told state police that Chadwell had told him he obtained them after the plant finished using them for testing purposes.

Dana officials said they never had authorized the release of such parts to Chadwell, the affidavit said.

8/08/08

Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2494241.html

Dana Holding, a supplier of axle, driveshaft, structural, sealing and thermal products for vehicle manufacturers, has posted a net loss of $140 million for the second quarter of 2008, including a $82 million non-cash impairment charge, compared to a net loss of $133 million in the second quarter of 2007.

The company's sales in the second quarter of 2008 increased 2% to $2.33 billion, compared to $2.29 billion in the second quarter of 2007. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring were $128 million, compared with $143 million in the second quarter of 2007.

The sales for the six months ended June 30, 2008 were $4.65 billion, compared to $4.43 billion in the same period of 2007. For the first six months of 2008, the company has reported net income of $545 million, compared to a net loss of $225 million for the same period in 2007.

John Devine, executive chairman of Dana, said: "We are making progress in our turnaround despite unprecedented headwinds in North America. The combination of much lower production volumes and higher steel costs has put considerable pressure on our 2008 operating results."