ArvinMeritor Consolidates and Trims Non-Core Units

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated, Houston, Texas). ArvinMeritor (NYSE:ARM) (Troy, Michigan), a leading supplier of automotive air and emissions technologies, aperture, and undercarriage systems, has consolidated its Light Vehicle Systems (LVS) unit into one unit and eliminated 300 salaried employees, and will also close its window regulator and sunroof systems manufacturing facility in Gordonsville, Tennessee. The latter closure will affect 275 hourly workers. The Gordonsville plant will shut down completely by August 2003. Production work from this plant will be transferred to plants in Detroit, Michigan; Marion, South Carolina; Franklin, Indiana; and Queretaro, Mexico.

According to a statement by Steve Scgalski, Vice President of Operations of LVS Americas, ArvinMeritor needed to consolidate its LVS business into one unit, in order to align operations more closely with customer needs, and to maximize its manufacturing and business process synergies.

ArvinMeritor is also closing its Salt Lake City plant, with a loss of 190 jobs, and will move the production from this plant to its Fayetteville, North Carolina, plant. The Salt Lake City distribution center will remain open.

As of January 1, 2003, the company acquired the remaining 51% of its German exhaust joint venture, Zeuna Starker GmbH & Company KG. The transaction is expected to be final in the second quarter of 2003. ArvinMeritor has incorporated Zeuna Starker into its LVS Air & Emissions Technologies (AE&T) business unit. Michael Bleidt, former Zeuna Starker Executive Vice President, will head of AE&T. Zeuna Starker supplies the Mercedes-Benz M-Class emissions system, and also Ford's Lincoln Aviator system. The company has new contracts with several leading European OEMs, namely, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Fiat, Volvo, Ferrari, Opel, and Alfa Romeo.

AxleTech International Incorporated (Troy, Michigan), a subsidiary of Wynchurch Capital Ltd, has acquired ArvinMeritor's off-highway manufacturing business, including plants in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and St-Etienne, France.

According to ArvinMeritor's first quarter 2003 fiscal year report, Light Vehicle Systems (LVS) sales were $903 million, up $57 million (7 percent) from the first quarter of fiscal year 2002.