How to Use Aluminum Aircraft parts. The popular aircraft airframe has been the most challenging function for aluminum alloys; to account the progress of the high strength alloys is as well to account the progress of airframes. Duralumin is the …
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Marathon Automotive Group sold to Revstone
Marathon Automotive Group acquired SPX’s Contech Division (die casting) in 2007 for $146 million. It has since filed for bankruptcy. The PBGC has agreed to accept the pension plan and Marathon wants to sell the company to Revstone Industries, LLC., for $14 million and assumption of unspecified liabilities. The fly in the ointment? Ford Motor Co., Automotive Components Holdings LLC, BMW AG and Delphi filed a joint objection to the sale.
From the Detroit News, Tuesday, May 26, 2009:
PBGC to take over auto supplier Contech’s pension plan
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington — The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation said Tuesday it will assume responsibility for a bankrupt Michigan auto supplier’s underfunded pension plan.
The government’s pension insurer will take over Portage-based Contech US LLC’s pension plan covering 532 workers and retirees effective immediately, the agency said in a statement.
According to PBGC estimates, the Contech US LLC Pension Plan is 38 percent funded, with assets of $8.4 million to cover benefit liabilities of $22 million. The agency expects to cover $12 million of the $13.6 million shortfall.
Contech LLC sought bankruptcy protection in January in Detroit after it had been acquired in 2007 by investment firm Marathon Asset Management LLC. It has nine U.S. plants, with its Walled Lake plant responsible for much of its revenue.
“This action is an integral part of our ongoing efforts to restructure Contech and meet the challenges of the automotive industry going forward. We continue to work closely with our lenders and customers to reach a consensus on the remaining changes that are necessary,” said Morris Rowlett, chairman & CEO of Contech in a statement in January when the company sought bankruptcy protection.
The PBGC will take over the assets and use insurance funds to pay guaranteed benefits earned under the plan, which ends Tuesday.
Retirees and beneficiaries will continue to receive monthly benefit checks without interruption, and future participants will receive their pensions when they are eligible to retire, the PBGC said.
Within the next several weeks, the PBGC will send notification letters to all participants in the Contech plan detailing the change.
Privately held Contech was founded in 1950 and builds light metal die casting and machining for automobile and parts manufacturers.
The company was sold from former owner SPX Corp. to Marathon Asset Management, a private equity firm, in 2007. Contech’s U.K. subsidiary based in Wales is not in bankruptcy.
Contech has six casting facilities in Michigan, Indiana and Tennessee, and had sales of $312 million in 2007, but saw sales fall to $223 million in 2008 as auto sales plummeted.
Marathon has sought to use Section 363 of the bankruptcy code to sell nearly all of Contech’s casting assets to Revstone Industries LLC.
Revstone would pay $14 million and assume certain liabilities from its casting facilities under the proposed sale.
Last week, several major customers of Contech filed an objection to the sale.
Ford Motor Co., Automotive Components Holdings LLC, BMW AG and Delphi filed a joint objection to the sale. Ford and Delphi both have said they won’t accept Revstone as a replacement supplier.
dshepardson@detnews.com (202) 662-8735
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures products like aluminum hardware, and aluminum boxes. If you would like more information on Kinetic Die Casting, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
Revstone to Purchase Auto Parts Suppliers
For some auto parts suppliers, the end of the rocky road of the past couple years may be over as a few sell off assets.
Intermet Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 on Aug. 12, may finally return to smooth pavement. The Fort Worth auto parts maker held an auction on Monday where Revstone Industries LLC, a privately held company based in Paris, Ky., was the winning bidder. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read more here.)
This was second bankruptcy filing since Sept. 29, 2004, for Intermet. Interestingly, the Intermet deal was Revstone’s second distressed acquisition of late. In May, it purchased six plants from bankrupt auto parts maker Contech LLC. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read about the Contech deal here.)
In other news, publicly traded ArvinMeritor Inc. (NYSE:ARM) overcame a year-long sale process, announcing Thursday an agreement to sell its stakes in two light-vehicle businesses that have been on the block since October 2008.
The Troy, Mich., company agreed to offload its 57% stake in a vehicle suspension unit to joint venture partner Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing Co., along with a 51% stake in Gabriel de Venezuela, which manufactures parts for countries throughout South America. The two businesses made up around 45% of the company’s 2008 chassis sales.
Values for the light-vehicle businesses were not disclosed, but any progress that suppliers make in this volatile sector does hold some weight. Alan Baum, an analyst at the Planning Edge Inc. in Birmingham, Mich., said divesting these particular units adjusts ArvinMeritor’s focus back to its core, even though they were small pieces of the overall operation.
But good things don’t always come to those who wait.
Fellow auto parts maker Lear Corp. (NYSE:LEA) has been exploring ways to restructure its debt out of court. However, debtholders are now bracing for a bankruptcy filing as soon as this week. The Southfield, Mich.-based company is in breach of debt covenants with its largest lenders. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read more about Lear’s potential bankruptcy here.) – Anthony Noto
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures custom metal parts to their customer. If you would like more information about Kinetic Die Casting, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
ALUMINUM HEAT SINKS
ALUMINUM HEAT SINKS
If we talk of heat sinks, these are basically used to reduce the amount of heat in electrical appliances. Heat sinks have been used to prevent overheating and breakdown of the concerned appliance since long, but aluminum heat sinks are a new advancement. Aluminum is being used to make these sinks because of its high durability and thermal conductivity. Here is a bite on how a heat sink works and how does aluminum enhance the performance of the product.
WORKING AND AN EXTRA PUSH BY ALUMINUM
It is obvious that every electrical appliance has wires for the conduction of the current. But what most people do not know that the flowing of electric current through the wires also produces some amount of heat in the wires. How much of this heat is produced depends on what material is the wire made up of. Every metal or alloy has its characteristic resistance to the electric current flowing through it. More the resistance more will be the number collision of molecules and therefore more heat shall be produced. Heat is bad for the normal functioning of the appliance. So it is ideally required that the material being used low in electrical resistance or high in thermal conductivity.
Production of the heat is inevitable, and that’s why there is need for heat sinks. Now, aluminum is a highly conductive material to heat and electricity both, just what is needed for a perfect heat sink apparatus. As soon as the heat is produced in the appliance machinery, these aluminum heat sinks conduct them out of the whole set up and therefore prevent overheating.
Aluminum is the best material to be used to conduct heat out of the electrical circuit and that too efficiently and without incurring much damage to itself; a valuable investment to say the least.
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures custom metal parts to their customer. If you would like more information about Kinetic Die Casting, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
Ecoline – the new die casting machine series
WEBWIRE – Sunday, July 26, 2009
With Ecoline, the Buhler Die Casting business unit has rolled out a third machine type after the Carat and Evolution. Ecoline has been designed with the medium market in mind and is distinguished by its ruggedness and reliability.
Buhler has been manufacturing top-quality die casting systems since 1927. With its Carat and Evolution machine series, Buhler has up to now offered a range of equipment that catered especially to the manufacturers of cast components meeting elevated requirements in terms of quality, complexity, and flexibility.
All the quality features
With Ecoline, Buhler is launching a machine type of straightforward design which boasts all the quality features of a Buhler machine: rugged, reliable, economical, energy-saving, durable, and easy to operate, or – in two words: Swiss quality. “Our new Ecoline machine has been designed with the medium market in mind,” explains Marcello Fabbroni, head of product management at Bühler Druckguss AG. “In this market segment, far more than 1000 new die casting machines go into service every year. Ecoline is therefore addressed in this environment to foundries which manufacture mainly components of small size and relatively low complexity. NonetheFor less, the quality of the cast components must be right. Ecoline satisfies these requirements. The machine is so to speak the starter model for entering the field of high-quality die casting with Buhler.”
Long service life, easy operation
As a “genuine” Buhler machine, Ecoline has all the capabilities expected of a state-of-the-art die casting machine for aluminum or magnesium. Ecoline is distinguished by its rugged and reliable engineering. “When it came to selecting the engineering materials and the manufacturing process, we were uncompromising,” says development project manager Kurt Rüdisühli. Ecoline is characterized by its high casting capacity with optimized energy consumption. The shot unit is matched precisely to the needs of the medium market and blends smoothly with the existing product portfolio of Buhler.
Much attention was also paid to easy operation. A clearly structured and easy-to-understand operating philosophy allows fast production starts with a low training requirement. A high uptime is achieved through the use of proven components. The optimized design of the hydraulic system and the targeted reduction of the number of components minimizes the maintenance and training requirements for maintenance crews.
Short delivery times, competent service
According to Fabbroni, the initial launch in Asia has already been completed, and the first machines are being manufactured. The Ecoline is available as a standard machine, but can be equipped with additional options. The locking forces range from 340, 530, and 660 to 840 tons. The delivery times for the machines are extremely short. Fast start-up by local technicians minimizes costs and ensures rapid commissioning of the casting cells.
Buhler maintains a global customer service network and local spare parts stores. Locally stationed specialist service technicians ensure fast responses whenever the need should arise. Ecoline, just as Evolution and Carat, stands for renowned Buhler quality, but with a more straightforward scope of functions and performance at an attractive price.
Kinetic Die Casting manufactures die cast parts for their customers. If you would like to know more about what is die casting or if you would like a quote, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
