LAS VEGAS – Accuride Corp. this week said it expects to make additional investments of approximately $75 million in 2012 to strengthen product availability, quality and reliability and also upgrade its manufacturing processes and improve customer service. Accuride President and CEO Rick Dauch made the announcement during a briefing at the 2012 Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week Conference.
 
Accuride said its 2012 North American investments will support its position as the leading supplier of steel and aluminum wheels to the commercial vehicle aftermarket and build upon the company’s $35 million investment in 2011 to increase its aluminum wheel production capacity.
 
“Accuride is committed to being a reliable and dependable supplier of steel and aluminum wheels and wheel-end components for our OE and aftermarket customers,” said Dauch. “We made solid progress in boosting our production capacity last year, and are stepping up our investments to extend and accelerate that progress throughout 2012. These investment plans further demonstrate our continuing commitment to improve product quality and ensure availability to meet growing demand by our customers and the industry. We won’t be satisfied until Accuride becomes the premier supplier of wheel-end system solutions to the global commercial vehicle industry.”
 
The first phase targets new machining lines and related equipment in the Wheels business and is already underway. A second phase involves improvements at Accuride’s Gunite operations.
 
Accuride says it is aggressively expanding its production capacity as aluminum wheel demand continues to grow in North America. The company plans $20 million of aluminum wheel capacity investments in 2012, including facility improvements, the installation of new machining lines and equipment, as well as the transfer of equipment among Accuride’s three aluminum wheel plants in Erie, Pa.; Camden, S.C.; and Monterrey, Mexico. These actions will optimize material flow, standardize wheel machining processes and achieve greater surface-finish consistency for its aluminum-wheel product lines.
 
Once completed, Accuride’s 2012 investments will double the company’s aluminum wheel production capacity at its Monterrey and Camden plants. According to Accuride, this will bring sufficient aluminum capacity online this year to meet the peak industry cycle demand expected in 2013-2014.
 
Planned factory-flow improvements will further increase throughput from the newly added wheel machining lines, enabling Accuride to achieve enhanced production performance for customers.
 
For 2012, Accuride’s Wheels business unit will make targeted investments in machining, equipment, facility upgrades and engineering initiatives to further improve product and process quality. In addition, Accuride’s Lean Manufacturing initiatives are further reducing variation and cycle times.
 
The second phase of Accuride’s capital investment program, to be announced later this quarter, targets the Gunite wheel-end business unit that produces spoke wheels, hubs, rotors, full cast brake drums and automatic slack adjusters. These investments will address the production issues and capacity constraints that Gunite experienced during 2011. The resulting manufacturing improvements will boost Gunite’s capacity and throughput and improve product quality.