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As we mentioned before, the #43 of 6,400 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 in B5 Blue will be auctioned off for charity. And the auction begins…well, right about now! So follow the action by clicking here. We’ll keep you updated as the sale draws to a close on Feb. 22.
Plastech seeks to keep molds, dies
February 13, 2008
The legal dispute that brought five Chrysler LLC plants to a halt last week returns to court today.
Chrysler and Dearborn-based supplier Plastech Engineered Products Inc. are to argue over whether Chrysler can take back molds and dies that Plastech uses to make parts for nearly all Chrysler's vehicles.
It's this dispute, Plastech says, that forced it to file for Chapter 11 protection on Feb. 1 -- the same day it lost its business with Chrysler -- and days before the firms reached a temporary deal on production.
Despite the unusually dramatic entrance into Chapter 11, Plastech's financial problems are all too common, echoing those of other suppliers that have had to restructure under the weight of debt from acquisitions, rising material costs, pressure from customers to cut prices and shrinking production volumes.
Reorganizing companies typically use the bankruptcy process to hack away at debt.
Plastech entered bankruptcy with nearly $500 million in debt, more than a third of its annual sales.
Plastech's story started 20 years ago, when founder Julie Brown, formerly an engineer at Ford Motor Co., bought a plastics plant in Caro.
Brown, born in Vietnam, went on to grow Plastech into the state's largest woman-owned company -- and one of the largest minority-owned businesses in country.
The distinction of size came swiftly in 2004 when Plastech bought rival LDM Technologies -- an acquisition that doubled Plastech's revenue to nearly $1 billion and doubled the size of its workforce to about 7,000 people.
The company made four smaller acquisitions after that. Plastech, which made a profit in 2005, was buying weaker companies or their books of business to prove its value as a problem-solver to customers that were dealing with struggling suppliers.
Those acquisitions also helped the company fill unused plant capacity.
While Plastech, known for keeping a tight control on costs, was careful not to take business at a loss, as Collins & Aikman had, Plastech made these acquisitions at a time when plastic prices pummeled parts suppliers.
The price for polypropylene, a staple for automotive plastic parts makers, has more than doubled since Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005, rising from 30 cents to more than 65 cents a pound, said Jeff Mengel, a partner at Plante & Moran, who leads the plastics industry team.
"I think they overextended themselves by acquisitions, and they leveraged themselves to the point where they were not flexible enough," said Jim McTevia, head of turnaround firm McTevia & Associates.
In 2006, Plastech lost $73 million. In February last year, it cut a short-term deal with customers to ensure it had enough money to operate. Plastech struck a second deal with customers last month. It was on the verge of reaching a third, when Chrysler canceled its business with the financially struggling supplier.
During its 13-day-old bankruptcy case, Plastech has had to reach more short-term financing deals to keep operating.
The latest, which is to go before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Phillip Shefferly this morning, includes an early sale of inventory to Plastech's largest customer, Johnson Controls Inc., for $17.1 million, and would keep Plastech running for the next two weeks.
In the Chrysler dispute, the automaker is asking to be exempt from bankruptcy rules that halt lawsuits against a reorganizing company. Chrysler has sued to go into Plastech's plants to take tools used to make parts for its vehicles and give those tools and business to other suppliers.
Chrysler was ready to do just that Feb. 1, when Plastech filed for bankruptcy court protection, stopping Chrysler from moving on a court order it received to take the tools.
Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli said last week that the company will move its business. "We have to make sure we're getting the right value from our suppliers."
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Iowa Mold Tooling Co. Inc. (IMT) has successfully integrated a hydraulic crane and air compressor into the new Dodge Ram 3500, 4500 and 5500 chassis, as well as the Sterling Bullet chassis.
"There's a high demand for these new chassis today, and IMT now offers a hydraulic crane and air compressor option," said Tim Worman, product manager of commercial vehicles for IMT, which manufactures mechanics trucks, lube trucks, telescopic cranes, and articulating cranes. "Before, customers who wanted the new Dodge Ram or Sterling Bullet were limited to electric cranes, but because of IMT's innovation and commitment to our customers' needs, hydraulics are now available as an additional option."
IMT has been selling Dominator DSC20 and Dominator I service bodies with electric telescopic cranes mounted on these Class 4 and 5 chassis since their introduction in 2007. Electric cranes are best for customers whose lifting needs are fairly light and whose duty cycles are intermittent. However, customers who need to lift more than 6,000 pounds or who use the crane more than once or twice a day will need a hydraulic telescopic crane.
"The electrical integration with the Dodge Ram and Sterling Bullet chassis did not allow for simple operation of high-idle or remote start/stop," Worman said. "So the engineers at IMT took this challenge and faced it head-on, working with engineers at Dodge to ensure product integrity. Now we can easily integrate engine high-idle operation and remote start/stop for use with the hydraulic cranes and air compressors."
February 12, 2008 - 9:31am
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Oil prices retreated Tuesday, with traders locking in profits, after jumping almost $2 in the previous session on concerns about potential supply disruptions in Venezuela and Nigeria.
Crude futures were supported by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's threat on Sunday to cut off oil sales to the U.S. in retaliation for court orders freezing assets belonging to Venezuela's state oil company. There were also reports of new violence in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery lost 90 cents to fetch $92.69 a barrel by afternoon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, the contract jumped $1.82 to settle at $93.59 a barrel.
"The oil price went up fairly sharply last night, and it's still at high levels by the standard of recent days and certainly well within the high end of the ranges we saw last night," said David Moore, a commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
The Schork Report, edited by energy analyst Stephen Schork, noted that while prices were at a three-month low just a week ago "since then it would appear that a lot of bullish money has found its way back into the market."
In addition to "Chavez's tired shtick," the newsletter blamed outages at Valero's Delaware City refinery for Monday's upsurge.
In Nigeria, unidentified gunmen Monday attacked a naval vessel that was escorting petroleum industry boats, killing one sailor and injuring another.
The attack is the latest incident to unnerve traders after Royal Dutch Shell PLC said last week that it would not be able to honor all its export contracts from the troubled Niger Delta region for two months due to sabotage of a pipeline. Approximately 130,000 barrels a day of production are believed to be shut-in as a result of the force majeure declared by the firm.
In Venezuela, Exxon Mobil Corp. has gone after Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts, challenging the nationalization by Chavez's government of a multibillion dollar oil project. A British court last week issued an injunction freezing as much as $12 billion in Petroleos' assets.
"The combination of these factors creates some concerns about the supply side of the equation," Moore said.
Heating oil futures were down 1.62 cents at $2.558 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices lost 2.42 cents to sell at $2.372 a gallon.
Natural gas futures slipped by 6 cents, fetching $8.471 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude lost $1.19 to trade at $92.34 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
(from Mr. Norm's Press Release) Mr. Norm’s Super Truck- Online Auction During Chicago Auto Show to kick-off first new Mr. Norm’s model in 35 years.
The Mr. Norm’s Concept Super Truck has certainly generated tremendous buzz, premiering at SEMA as the lead vehicle in the Sony Exhibit, being featured in the Dodge Exhibit at numerous auto shows, and earning a ton a magazine coverage. A steady stream of Mopar Enthusiasts began calling in asking if there were any Super Trucks left, eager to put down pre-build deposits. Now that the build have been authorized to begin, we don’t expect that the remainder of the 100 unit build to last very long. It takes approximately 12 weeks to build and deliver a Mr. Norm’s Super Truck (NST). With the ’08 production run ending in late April, the most owners should have their truck just in time for the summer driving season.