Some significant management changes at Gates Corp. and CARQUEST have topped our list of most-viewed articles on aftermarketNews this week. Gates Corp. has announced that Steve Connolly, vice president, Gates Brand, representing the automotive heavy duty and adjacent market channels, has announced his retirement effective Dec. 31. Connolly began his career at Gates in 1973. Succeeding him will be Todd Hack, who previously served as president of CARQUEST Corp. and senior vice president of marketing for General Parts/CARQUEST. In conjunction with Hack’s departure from CARQUEST, the company has named Mike Broderick to serve as president of CARQUEST U.S., effective Dec. 1. Broderick previously served as senior vice president store sales. He joined the company in late 2008.
In top news from the manufacturing sector, this week Hytec Debartolo, a supplier of new water pumps for automobiles, light and heavy-duty trucks, marine, high performance and industrial applications, announced that it has rescinded its exclusive purchase agreement for Melling Tool Co. to acquire its business. In a written statement, Debartolo Chairm and CEO Denis Bruncak said, “The dynamics of our business model have shifted in another direction and we plan to leverage our current domestic partnerships, along with our state-of-the-art Chinese manufacturing capabilities, to make our company stronger and more responsive to our customer’s needs and requirements. The automotive aftermarket, demands replacement parts that match OEM specifications in form, fit and performance at the most competitive price, and Hytec will continue to meet these very stringent quality and operational demands.” No statement was made by Melling on the matter.
Also in manufacturing news this week, financial services firm BB&T Capital Markets has initiated coverage of Federal-Mogul. Initiating its coverage of Federal-Mogul with a Buy (1) rating and $16 price target, BB&T said there are a number of rationales for its bullish forecast, including the fact that Federal-Mogul’s aftermarket segment leverages OE technology and brand equity and it has a highly diversified customer and product base.
Two interesting supplier partnerships round out our wrap-up of the week’s top news. First, Precision Fleet Brakes will become an official supplier of high-quality engineered products for the United States Postal Service (USPS). One of two manufacturers authorized to supply brake rotors and friction to the USPS, Precision will provide its cryogenically processed rotors for use on the postal services’ fleet of LLV delivery vehicles.
Last but not least, Snap-on has teamed up with Carbon Motors a new homeland security company, to help develop service strategies for the first-ever purpose-built law enforcement patrol vehicle. Besides working together on the service strategy for the Carbon E7 vehicle, the first car built strictly to be a police car, Snap-on and Carbon Motors are conducting a “Pure Justice Tour,” where at each stop, Snap-on and Carbon Motors will host an interactive “Customer Service Summit” meeting. This opportunity allows fleet administrators, shop managers and technicians to help design various aspects of the service model with Carbon Motors and Snap-on.
