Daymark Group Opens Consolidation Facility Russellville AR-based Daymark Group has opened a new 14,700-sq-ft consolidation facility in Miami FL. This eight-dock center has pre-cooling capabilities. Flowers shipped through the facility are shipped throughout the Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest.
Loop Cold Storage Opens Freezer Addition Guests recently attended the opening of Loop Cold Storage's new 50,000-sq-ft freezer storage addition in San Antonio TX. The new building increases storage capacity to about 50 million pounds of product with the new freezer (Freezer 10) accounting for 12 million pounds. Cold Systems Inc provided construction.
This new expansion holds 7,773 pallet positions of product. Of these, 6,340 are two-deep pushback and 1,433 are single-deep. Included in these numbers, the freezer has 204 floor staging pallet positions and 431 floor pick slots. This storage capability is due to a new storage rack system. Created by Loop Cold Storage, Parkway Systems, and INCA Metal Products Corp, this rack system narrows aisles within the building, thus turning aisle space into usable storage space.
Freezer 10 was built with a 12,685-sq-ft refrigerated dock with 12 dock doors and Kelly dock levelers. The new building has a maximum product storage height of 37 feet and will connect three other buildings.
TLC Acquires Assets of Paw Paw Freezer Corp Total Logistic Control (TLC) has purchased the assets of Paw Paw Freezer Corp, a deep-frozen and refrigerated public warehouse in Paw Paw MI.
The acquisition of the 91,200-sq-ft warehouse brings the TLC network to 12 distribution facilities, with 36,300,000 cubic feet of refrigerated and deep-frozen and 2,000,000 square feet of dry space. Located on 16 acres adjacent to Interstate 94, the Paw Paw facility is fully racked with 12 doors and a -20 degrees F temperature storage capacity and will be enhanced by TLC's information management and RF scanning systems. TLC also received an option on 90 acres of surrounding land for future expansion.
Privately held Paw Paw was founded in 1981 to serve fruit growers in southwest Michigan. Richard Carrier, company president, will continue in an advisory capacity.
Volvo Plans to Purchase Renault VI/Mack AB Volvo and Renault announced a proposed memorandum of understanding in which Volvo will exchange 15 percent of its shares for 100 percent of the shares in Renault's truck business, Renault VI/Mack. The transaction would nearly double the volumes of Volvo's truck business.
After authorization from Volvo shareholders, the company's board of directors plans to buy back Volvo shares amounting to 15 percent of the total number of shares in the company. Volvo then plans to transfer these shares to Renault in exchange for Renault VI/Mack.
Renault intends to maintain its shareholding in Volvo for at least three years and also plans to increase its holding in Volvo over time, to no more than 20 percent.
Neither Renault VI's bus business, organized in the Irisbus company owned jointly by Renault and Iveco; nor Renault's holding in Nissan Diesel of Japan is included in the transaction.
Including Renault VI/Mack, Volvo says it will become the largest manufacturer of heavy trucks in Europe and the second-largest in the world. After the transaction, Volvo's and Renault VI's combined market share for heavy trucks in Western Europe will be about 28 percent; and with Mack in North America, to around 24 percent. Based on Class 8 retail sales for first-quarter 2000, the combined Volvo/Mack would be the number two truck maker in the United States, 0.5 percent ahead of Paccar in market share.
DOE Names Cummins Clean Engine Partner The Department of Energy (DOE) has selected Cummins Engine Co to participate in a project designed to develop heavy-duty diesel engines with improved fuel efficiency and marked emissions reductions. The engines are used in on-highway 18-wheel vehicles.
DOE will award up to $5 million to Cummins during the first year of the project. The partnership between the federal government and engine manufacturers is expected to continue through January 2006.
The proposed heavy-duty diesel engines will exhibit superior fuel economy while reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and particulate matter by 90 percent of the stated 2002 levels. These targets are expected to be reached by improvements in engine efficiency, advances in NOx and particulate aftertreatment technology, and through use of low-sulfur fuels.
Meritor, Arvin Industries Agree to Merger Meritor Automotive Inc and Arvin Industries Inc have entered into a definitive agreement to combine their businesses in a strategic merger. The transaction will create a global supplier of integrated systems, modules, and components for light-vehicle, commercial truck, trailer, and specialty original equipment manufacturers and related aftermarkets.
The new company, to be called ArvinMeritor Inc, will have combined revenues of $7.5 billion. It will be incorporated in Indiana and will have its corporate headquarters in Troy MI. All its operating units will remain at their current locations.
Under terms of the agreement, which has been approved by both boards of directors, Arvin shareholders will receive one share of ArvinMeritor common stock plus $2 of cash consideration for each share of Arvin common stock. Meritor shareholders will receive 0.75 shares of ArvinMeritor common stock for each share of Meritor common stock. Meritor shareholders will own about 65.8 percent, and Arvin shareholders will own about 34.2 percent of the combined company's shares. The new company's fiscal year will end September 30.
Larry Yost, chairman and chief executive officer of Meritor, will be the new company's chairman and CEO. Bill Hunt, chairman and CEO of Arvin, will serve as vice-chairman and president. Together, they will comprise the office of the chairman, which will directly oversee corporate staff functions, as well as operations of its six business groups, which include heavy-vehicle systems, light-vehicle systems, exhaust systems, light-vehicle aftermarket, heavy-vehicle aftermarket, and coil coating.
The board of directors of the new company will consist of nine members from the current Meritor board and nine members from the current Arvin board, plus one new independent director agreed upon by the parties. The respective boards have a plan by which Bill Hunt will succeed Larry Yost as chairman and CEO upon Yost's retirement from these positions.
TTC Facility Is QS-Certified The Knoxville TN manufacturing facility of Transmission Technologies Corp (TTC) has earned QS-9000 registration from Underwriters Laboratories Inc (UL). The registration process began in 1999. To determine continued compliance with QS-9000, UL will conduct routine surveillance audits of TTC operations periodically.
Millard Opens Distribution Center Addition Millard Refrigerated Services has opened the third addition to its Atlanta GA distribution center. The 109,660-sq-ft addition expands this center to 518,500 square feet and 15.6 million cubic feet. Including facilities under construction, Millard operates 24 refrigerated warehouse and distribution facilities throughout the United States. These account for more than 180 million cubic feet.
Newest Condyne Facilities Now Operational Condyne Freezers and Condyne Logistics opened its newest facility Dec 7, 1999. As of March 1, 2000, both the new multi-temp facility and the dry facility on the adjacent lot are fully operational. The 7.5-million-cu-ft freezer warehouse and distribution facility, as well as the dry warehouse, are located in the Myles Standish Industrial Park in Taunton MA.
The multi-temp facility has 30 loading doors, six rail doors, and a 30,000-sq-ft refrigerated dock. It has incorporated technology in temperature control, racking systems, and building layouts to increase productivity. In addition, the 2-million-cu-ft dry storage building adjacent to the new freezer provides additional storage options. These two facilities, combined with the existing Avon MA facility, result in a total of 15 million cubic feet available from Condyne to service distribution needs in the Northeast.
USCO Acquires Nortel Operations in Calgary USCO Logistics has announced an agreement with Nortel Networks to acquire Nortel's Calgary, Alberta-area warehouse and distribution operations. As part of the transaction, which took effect April 1, 2000, about 130 Nortel employees will join USCO Logistics. USCO is also building a logistics center that will permit consolidation of the current warehouse and distribution activities serving Nortel in the Calgary area. The 220,000-sq-ft center, which is expandable to 300,000 square feet, is expected to open in July 2000.
Haskell Co Will Build Amerifreeze Facility The Haskell Co's Midwest regional office in Chicago IL has been selected by Amerifreeze to provide design/build services for a new facility in West Deer Township PA northeast of Pittsburgh. The plant will provide 125,000 square feet of blast-freezing, storage, and distribution space for frozen food products.
Program on Sharing Road with Large Trucks The Shell Oil Co has unveiled a major public service highway safety program to educate motorists on how to share the road safely with large trucks. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) participated in production of the month-long television and print campaign, part of the national "Count on Shell" safety effort.
Shell's effort mirrors ATA's How To Drive program, which takes America's Road Team drivers to United States cities to demonstrate to the news media and public on how to share the road safely with large trucks.
Shell plans a national advertising campaign for the highway safety message. The ad will appear in the morning and evening newscasts of up to 175 local TV stations and on nine national cable TV networks. It will run in three national newspapers, 19 national news magazines, and 16 minority newspapers. In addition, Shell will direct-mail the safety message to two million households in six major markets.
Ruan Field-Tests Soybean-Based Grease Field-testing of SoyTRUK, a bio-based fifthwheel grease, has been completed by Ruan Transportation Management Systems, a national truck transportation service company based in Des Moines IA. Eight of Ruan's 200 facilities across the United States participated in the field-testing, providing varying climate conditions for the assessment.
Ruan is now offering the product to all of its facilities for use on their fifthwheel tractor-trailers as an alternative to conventional petroleum-based grease. Those facilities in particularly sensitive environmental areas are encouraged to use SoyTRUK.
SoyTRUK was developed and field-tests were conducted by the University of Northern Iowa's Ag-Based Industrial Lubricants Research Program, and is currently marketed by West Central Cooperative of Ralston IA. The soybean-based grease product uses about 70 percent soybean-based oil along with other natural thickeners.
The eight Ruan facilities chosen included one of its Des Moines maintenance facilities, as well as locations in Renton WA, Pico Rivera CA, Salt Lake City UT, Phoenix AZ, Fargo ND, Memphis TN, and Tampa FL.
Technician Program Graduates Initial Class The Peterbilt Specialized Training Service Program graduated its initial class recently. The program, which provides dealers with an avenue for recruitment and training of entry-level technicians, evolved through the cooperative efforts of Peterbilt Motors Co, a group of its dealerships, and the Wyoming Technical Institute.
In exchange for tuition payment by sponsoring dealers, the recruited post-secondary vocational school graduates receive Peterbilt-specific training at the Laramie WY facility of Wyoming Technical Institute.
With an emphasis on Peterbilt proprietary components and systems, the three-month, 500-hour program mixes classroom lectures and hands-on training using Peterbilt trucks. As part of the course work, students learn how to use Peterbilt computer-based programs, including ServiceNet and E-Cat, and the diagnostic, programming, and troubleshooting programs of the engine manufacturers. Upon completion of the Peterbilt-specific course, the sponsoring dealerships employ the graduates.
Nissan Diesel Undergoes Restructuring As part of a restructuring plan currently underway for Nissan Diesel Motor Co, lenders led by Fuji Bank have approved a four-year credit line in the amount of $1.87 billion providing liquidity to the truck manufacturer. Nissan Diesel is gaining another $235 million by collateralizing its Ageo manufacturing and assembly plant and issuing $47 million in convertible bonds to Nissan Motor Co. Cost reduction measures have been instituted, including an overall reduction in the labor force and the transition of production to the Ageo plant from the Gunma plant.
One offshoot of the plan is the agreement whereby Nissan Diesel will supply diesel engines to both Renault and Renault Vehicules Industriels (RVI). This agreement also has Nissan Diesel selling Renault-manufactured light commercial trucks through its Japanese sales outlets, and certain light-duty Nissan Diesel vehicles being sold through the RVI sales network. Nissan Diesel also will receive assistance from Nissan Motor Co in reinforcing its management group, and additional enhancements to strengthen Nissan Diesel's business plan further will be announced by the end of April 2000.
