This week’s recap of top industry news kicks off with more consolidation in the distribution segment. Pennsylvania’s Eastern Warehouse Distributors (Eastern) has announced its merger with South Jersey Auto Supply, in a combination stock/cash transaction. Eastern Warehouse Distributors was founded in 1989 with a single location in Langhorne, Pa. South Jersey Auto Supply opened in 1952 with one location in Somers Point, N.J., and was purchased by John Rochford in 1986. Rochford is now the president of Eastern Warehouse Distributors. Following the merger, which took effect Nov. 18, Eastern now operates 32 two-step warehouses, spread over Eastern Pennsylvania and lower New Jersey. For 2012, the company says it anticipates combined sales of $100 million.
Also among the most-viewed items on AMN this week was our Executive Interview with Jason Best, vice president sales and marketing, Aftermarket, Spectra Premium. In the interview, Best talks with aftermarketNews.com about new technology, as well as the critical importance of inventory management and quality assurance at Spectra Premium.
Back again to the distribution segment, Federated Auto Parts announced the big winner in its “Cruise the Caribbean with Kenny” contest. Grand-prize winner Eleanor Greenly of Levittown, Pa., was one of thousands of Federated Facebook fans to enter the contest. She will depart on the seven-night cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., with stops scheduled at such locations as Falmouth, Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico, returning to Ft. Lauderdale. Special highlights of the “Kenny Cruise” include a private cocktail party with Federated spokesman and NASCAR legend Kenny Wallace, a remote control racing night and daily door prizes supplied by Federated and Kenny Wallace Racing.
In other news, Affinia Group this week announced its public support of a brake rotor standard currently under review by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). An SAE subcommittee working on the standard has recommended the adoption of SAE Recommended Practice J2928, which details dynamometer testing and performance criteria for assessing brake rotor crack initiation and propagation during high-energy brake applications. The proposed practice, which applies to light-duty vehicles, has passed peer review within SAE, and the measure now waits final adoption by SAE. In addition to its public endorsement of the proposed standard, Affinia has formally requested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) adopt a federal vehicle safety standard for brake rotors based on the recently completed work by the SAE subcommittee.
Last in our recap of the week’s top news, we learn that the sale of TMD Friction to Nisshinbo Holdings Inc. (NISH), a Japanese group listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is now complete. The combination of TMD with Nisshinbo Brake (NISB) under the ownership of Nisshinbo Inc. creates the world’s largest automotive brake friction manufacturer, according to NISH, with an extensive offering for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Its product portfolio comprises disc brake pads and drum brake linings for passenger cars and commercial vehicles together with brake pads for racing cars and friction materials for rail and industrial applications.
