From Detroit Free Press
PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, MI — Ford Motor Co. announced Monday it has reached an agreement with French auto supplier Valeo SA to purchase the climate control business and Sheldon Road plant in Plymouth Township now owned by Automotive Components Holdings LLC, a subsidiary designed to dispose of more than a dozen former Visteon Corp. facilities.
The sale is conditional upon reaching a new and competitive labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union.
The plant, which employs 1,250, has forecast sales in 2006 of $450 million. Ford and Valeo did not disclose the terms of the potential deal, but this would be the first sale of an ACH plant since Ford created the subsidiary in October 2005 to hold the former Visteon assets until they could be closed or sold.
"This is an important step for Ford’s North American operations and the Way Forward acceleration plan," Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, said in a statement.
Ford hopes to dispose of all of ACH’s 14 plants and six other facilities by the end of 2008 under its Way Forward restructuring plan. It had taken some criticism for not selling any of the facilities after a year.
Al Ver, CEO and chief operating officer of ACH, told the Free Press in an interview Monday that some of the businesses had to be improved before they were ready for sale and that Ford is now trying to sell the facilities as part of a business unit. As such, the future deals on ACH plants are likely to include an agreement on future business.
Ford said the memorandum of understanding with Valeo is expected to be the first during the next several months regarding ACH’s automotive component business.
"We’re in earnest negotiations," with several other companies, Ver said.
ACH spokeswoman Della DiPietro said Ford hopes the deal on the Sheldon Road plant will close "as soon as possible next year."
The Sheldon Road plant employs about 1,250 people, including salaried employees leased from Visteon and UAW hourly employees leased from Ford.
Ver said that ACH is selling its plants with the intent that "employees would go with the plant."
At Sheldon Road, however, about 415 workers have signed up for buyouts and 600 have signed up to flow back to Ford if a spot becomes available.
Without a deal with the UAW, the future for those workers who remain at Sheldon Road or don’t flow back to Ford is unclear.
"We have yet to work out those details," DiPietro said.
Workers at that plant who signed up for a Ford buyout will be able to take that buyout before a sale is finalized. It is unclear whether there will be jobs at Ford for all the workers who want to return to the automaker.
"Flow back is dependent on opportunities being available," DiPietro said.
ACH started the year with about 12,000 hourly workers. This year, workers were allowed to sign up for both buyouts and the option of returning to Ford if a spot became available. That will allow them to go back to Ford if that opportunity arises before their buyout takes effect.
So far this year, about 6,000 ACH workers have taken buyouts or accepted them on a preliminary basis. Another 2,500 have signed up to flow back to Ford, Ver said. That has left ACH with about 9,800 employees today.
Ver expects ACH to end the year with about 5,000 employees in all.
Ford said the deal on the Sheldon Road plant will ensure the flow of critical components for Ford while reducing material costs over time. The Sheldon Road plant produces automotive climate control systems and components, such as air conditioning units and radiators, for a number of Ford vehicles.
Paris-based Valeo ranks among the world’s top automotive suppliers. Its climate control division employs 6,600 people in 13 facilities and accounts for 1.5 billion euros of Valeo’s 10.6 billion euros in annual sales.
Valeo employs 73,800 people in 134 plants, 71 research-and-development centers and nine distribution centers in 29 countries.
Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press
