Accuride Announces New Business Wins

Accuride Corporation (NYSE: ACW), a leading supplier of components to the North American commercial vehicle industry, announced that its “Fix and Grow” actions to restructure and upgrade core operations have improved operational performance and enabled the company to secure new long-term agreements for steel and aluminum wheels. Accuride made the announcement during a news briefing today at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week 2013 in Las Vegas.

In 2011, Accuride launched a two-year, $150 million investment program to restructure and expand its core wheel and wheel-end component operations, and upgrade the capabilities of each of its four business units. These investments included, among others:

• $55 million for additional aluminum wheel capacity,
• more than $35 million to restructure and upgrade its Gunite business, and
• $21 million in environmental and safety-related facility upgrades.

Today, with its aluminum wheel manufacturing investments complete, Accuride has doubled its production capacity for forged aluminum wheels, while Gunite’s program to install advanced machining and assembly equipment, upgrade casting and consolidate its manufacturing footprint is 90 percent complete. Accuride also plans more than $30 million in steel wheel facility upgrades during 2013-15 and will announce details of its 2013 capital program later this year.

Accuride’s actions to restore the competitiveness and dependability of its core North American operations are resulting in marked gains in quality, delivery, and lead-time performance, which are the metrics that matter most to customers. Due to the resulting positive impact on customer confidence, Accuride recently earned new long-term agreements with several key customers representing more than 70 percent of its core wheel business. Accuride also secured new aluminum wheel business of up to $30 million annually that it will serve using its newly-expanded aluminum capacity. This leaves additional aluminum capacity open to enable Accuride to respond rapidly to growth in customer demand when the projected recovery in the North American commercial vehicle industry occurs in the second half of 2013.

1 2 3 Next › Last »