Kicking off our top stories this week comes our exclusive Executive Interview with Affinia Group President and CEO Terry McCormack. In the interview, McCormack talks about recent changes to the company’s capital structure that will allow for some exciting growth opportunities going forward. McCormack also addresses the controversy surrounding thin-walled rotors and shares his thoughts on the “Cash for Clunkers” program, which ended on Tuesday.
In other news this week, General Automotive said it achieved year-over-year improvements in most profitability metrics in the second quarter of 2009. Revenue in the second quarter of 2009 increased 11.06 percent to $3.4 million, compared to $3 million in the three months ended June 30, 2008. The company also reduced its operating expenses during the six months ended June 30, by 1.33 percent, lowering its total expense to $1 million from $1.1 million.
In this week’s personnel news, New Jersey-based sales representation agency Marc Alan Associates added three industry veterans to its team. Bob Leedom, Skip Scafidi and JP Scafidi have joined the organization, which serves Metropolitan New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Maryland and Delaware.
In the manufacturing segment, William Nonnamaker has been named VP of sales and marketing for Wells Manufacturing based in Fond du Lac, Wis. Nonnamaker joins Wells after having held a series of increasingly responsible sales and marketing positions – most recently executive director of sales and field support – over a 10-year period with Johnson Controls in Milwaukee. Prior to that, he served in a number of key sales positions over a 17-year period with Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in Findlay, Ohio. Wells also announced that Steve Hildebrand will take on the new role of vice president-marketing, reporting to Nonnamaker.
The final item in our round-up of the week’s top news comes from Standard Motor Products (SMP), which unveiled a whole host of new brand Web sites, anchored by a new corporate Web site. Every SMP brand and division site has been completely redesigned to serve visitors more efficiently and effectively. Navigation has been streamlined, key catalogs have been redeveloped to provide greater support and brand sites now offer instant access to all www.smpcorp.com resources, said the company. Brand site enhancements include broad rollover menus for easy navigation and access to the entire site, tri-lingual video gallery, resource library with downloadable marketing and product brochures, expanded product and marketing feature pages, easy in-site access to technical training – counterperson and technician’s toolbox, and an improved eCatalog.
