Dana Corp. Prepares for 100th Anniversary Celebrations

Dana Corp. will kick off its centennial-year celebrations at an automotive technology event in downtown Detroit, this while banners announcing the anniversary will begin peppering downtown Toledo. The Toledo firm, which turns 100 on April 1, will start its centennial celebration at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress. Dana will return to the March 8 to 11 event at Cobo Center for the first time since 2001 after bowing out, along with other large suppliers, for business and financial reasons.

From The Blade

TOLEDO, OH — Dana Corp. will kick off its centennial-year celebrations at an automotive technology event in downtown Detroit, this while banners announcing the anniversary will begin peppering downtown Toledo.

The Toledo firm, which turns 100 on April 1, will start its centennial celebration at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress. Dana will return to the March 8 to 11 event at Cobo Center for the first time since 2001 after bowing out, along with other large suppliers, for business and financial reasons.

“As Dana celebrates 100 years of advancing the science of mobility, it is only fitting that we have a major presence at our industry’s most comprehensive technology event,” Chuck Heine, Dana’s president of technology development.

Dana will show off its latest technologies in an exhibit, where select inventors also will present their ideas to engineering executives. Plus, the company is sponsoring the Dana Technical Innovation Forum, a 200-seat theater where various technical sessions will be held.

Other aspects of Dana’s centennial celebration, meanwhile, include the downtown Toledo banners expected to be in place next month, an Aug. 28 party for Dana employees and retirees, a public car show Aug. 29 at its Dorr Street headquarters, and centennial logos on the supplier’s truck fleet. A book, public-television special, and other events are in the works, said company spokesman Gary Corrigan.

“We’re trying to stagger their timing so we can keep up community involvement and Dana involvement,” he said.

Dana’s roots are traced back to Clarence Spicer, who set up his universal joint manufacturing company in Plainfield, N.J., in 1904. The Spicer Universal Joint Manufacturing Co. was incorporated a year later and began making acquisitions in 1919. It moved to Toledo in 1928 and was renamed Dana Corp. in 1946.

Dana’s future was in doubt last year when rival ArvinMeritor Inc. attempted a hostile takeover of the firm. Three lawsuits are pending between Dana and the Troy, Mich., auto supplier in connection with the failed tender offer, but both sides have agreed to dismiss the actions, according to a document Dana filed this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

_______________________________________

Click here to view the rest of today’s headlines.