By Amy Antenora

The Week in Review offers a snapshot of the most highly read stories of the week as seen on aftermarketNews. To access the complete stories, simply click on the highlighted links. If you missed reading one of our daily news emails, just click on the link that says "News Archives" at the bottom of the page to begin catching up on the latest industry news.

Two personnel announcements topped the list of most-read stories on aftermarketNews (AMN) this week. Jamie Fiffles has been appointed to a newly created position at Centric Parts. He will serve as the company’s vice president sales special markets and will be responsible for expanding market share by focusing on national installer chains, major buying groups, OES, co-manufacturers, fleets, private label and retail.

In addition, CARQUEST’s promotion of Todd Hack to senior vice president of Product Management for General Parts/CARQUEST and president of CARQUEST Corp., was also among our top stories this week. Hack has been with CARQUEST for 18 years, during which time he managed a CARQUEST Auto Parts store and worked in sales and distribution. Most recently, he was general manager of CARQUEST Products, Inc. in New Castle, Ind.

AMN readers were also interested in learning more about a patent infringement suit that Hunter Engineering has brought against Hennessy Industries. The lawsuit alleges that Hennessy’s wheel balancing equipment, including the “Coats EconoBalance” or “Coats EB” feature, infringes upon Hunter’s “SmartWeight” patents.

Later in the week, Hennessy issued a statement in response to the suit, saying, “Hennessy Industries disputes the merits of the suit, and intends to vigorously defend its right to market EconoBalance (EB) technology in its Coats brand wheel balancers.”

Two acquisitions that recently took place round-out our wrap-up of the most-viewed stories on AMN this week.

OEM Components and U.S.A. Switch Inc., manufacturers of automotive transmission and engine management electronics and controls, have acquired Rostra Precision Controls, Inc., a leading supplier of transmission components, cruise control systems, rear obstacle sensing systems and electronic controls for the automotive and heavy truck aftermarket. Thomas Petrillo, founder of OEM Components and U.S.A. Switch Inc., teamed with the private equity firm Superior Capital to form Aftermarket Controls Corp. and purchase Rostra Precision Controls. Aftermarket Controls Corp. will be the parent company of OEM Components, U.S.A. Switch Inc. and Rostra Precision Controls.

On the heavy duty side, FleetPride announced it has acquired has acquired Keller Truck Parts, Inc. Keller has 11 locations across Delaware and Maryland. Maryland locations include Annapolis Junction, Baltimore (two branches), Elkton, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Hagerstown, Landover and Waldorf. Delaware locations include Dover and Wilmington. FleetPride has extended employment to all of the Keller employees, including industry veterans Curt Ackerman and Robert White, who will continue as area manager and area operations manager, respectively, for the acquired Keller operations.

To view all of the news from the past week, simply click here to view our News Archives.