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Posted Jun 26, 2017, 1:45 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Metropolitan Detroit
Posts: 712
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While this isn't a great trade off destroying a partially modern manufacturing facility for a logistics center which in this case is really kind of a glorified parking lot it however there is a lot of available land in the area that isn't creating job's so why not it does help one of the big 3 manufacture more efficiently in the city too.
Quote:
Moroun company implodes old Detroit factory for expanded FCA logistics hub
By CHAD LIVENGOOD
June 24, 2017
Crain's Detroit Business
A large portion of the century-old former Budd Wheel plant on Detroit's east side was imploded early Saturday morning to expand a new vehicle shipping logistics hub adjacent to FCA US LLC's Jefferson North Assembly Plant.
Crown Enterprises Inc., the real estate development arm of billionaire trucking mogul Manuel "Matty" Moroun's companies, had two sections of the old factory totaling 300,000 square feet blown up at 6:30 a.m. as part of the demolition of the entire 2.1 million-square-foot factory.
Matthew Moroun, president of his family's logistics and shipping company, said Crown Enterprises tore down the building to make room for more Fiat Chrysler vehicles to be stored and shipped by truck or rail on an adjacent Norfolk Southern rail yard.
Fiat Chrysler will be able to expand car shipping at the facility for vehicles not only assembled at Jefferson North, but other plants in the region, Moroun said.
"It gives FCA a strategic advantage in town," Moroun told Crain's after the Budd factory was imploded.
Moroun company associates, employees from the demolition company 21st Century Salvage Inc. and other onlookers gathered early Saturday morning on the Mack Avenue railroad bridge to watch the implosion of a portion of a factory that dates back to 1917.
Marc Brazeau, the head of vehicle logistics for FCA, also was on hand for the factory implosion.
Crown Enterprises has been operating a vehicle shipping logistics center for FCA in the original parking lots of the old auto parts plant, which Troy-based ThyssenKrupp Budd Co. shuttered in 2006, eliminating 350 jobs.
Dodge Durangos and Jeep Grand Cherokees, which are assembled at Jefferson North, were covered in plastic in the parking lot along Mack Avenue on the property to protect them from the small dust cloud that the implosion created.
Michael Samhat, president of Crown Enterprises, said all but a couple of small buildings on the Charlevoix Street site are being torn down to make room for the expanded automotive logistics center
"There's going to be a lot of improvements to the site to serve the automotive client," Samhat told Crain's.
In the past, Fiat Chrysler has had to ship vehicles by car-hauler to a railyard in Toledo and then load them onto trains.
The Moroun-owned Crown Enterprises is spending more than $10 million for demolition and redevelopment of the site, Samhat said.
"It's transformational," Moroun said.
Machine demolition of other parts of the factory began about three months ago. Explosives were needed to take out the two buildings within the "super structure" of the facility, Samhat said.
"They're mostly cement," he said.
Warren-based Crown Enterprises has owned the building for nine years, Samhat said.
"Over the years, we've tried to find ways to repurpose the building and just couldn't find the right opportunity," he said.
Crown Enterprises' redevelopment of the Budd plant is the second logistics facility the company has built for one of Detroit's automakers in the past two years.
In 2015, Crown Enterprises built a 500,000-square-foot warehouse in the I-94 Industrial Park for sorting and delivering auto parts to General Motors Co.'s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.
With greater downtown Detroit getting all of the attention for revitalization these days, Samhat said the Budd plant project is the "second component of the recovery of Detroit."
"These things take time to transform these sites, but this is good for Detroit," he said.
The City of Detroit has issued a permit for the implosion of a portion of the factory complex, which Budd Wheel bought from the former Liberty Motor Co. in 1924, according to the city's buildings and safety department.
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http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...r-expanded-fca
I also wanted to make note of the fact that a major company from Metro Detroit is acquiring one from Tokyo. Hopefully they know what there doing and this can be a reverse firestone/bridgestone.
Quote:
Key Safety Systems to acquire Takata for $1.59 billion in bankruptcy deal
By DUSTIN WALSH
June 25, 2017
Crain's Detroit Business
After more than a year of negotiations, Key Safety Systems has reached a deal to acquire Takata Corp. for $1.59 billion as part of a pre-packaged bankruptcy in the U.S. and Japan.
Under the deal, Sterling Heights based-Key Safety proposed to acquire all global Takata assets and operations, except those tied to the phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate airbag inflators business. Malfunction of Takata's airbag inflators led to at least 16 deaths and a $1 billion fine in the U.S.
The inflator business is expected to be wound down, Key Safety said in a news release.
Takata's U.S. subsidiary, Auburn Hills-based TK Holdings, will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Detroit and Takata will file bankruptcy in Japan, both on Monday.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, Key Safety said.
Key Safety also plans to retain all Takata employees and maintain operations in Japan, including the opening of a new regional headquarters in Tokyo.
Key Safety, which makes active and passive safety systems for vehicles, is an independently operated subsidiary of Chinese supplier Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. The Takata purchase is seen as giving Key Safety and its Chinese parent company a jump-start into new segments with a deep customer base.
"Although Takata has been impacted by the global airbag recall, the underlying strength of its skilled employee base, geographic reach and exceptional steering wheels, seat belts and other safety products have not diminished," Jason Luo, president and CEO of Key Safety, said in a statement. "We look forward to finalizing definitive agreements with Takata in the coming weeks, completing the transaction and serving both our new and long-standing customers while investing in the next phase of growth for the new (Key Safety)."
Bankruptcy will allow Key Safety to indemnify itself from legal liability for Takata's airbag fiasco.
Automakers have already shifted business away from Takata and toward rivals for about 70 percent of the parts to repair defective airbag inflators, which can explode and cause death or injury with shrapnel, Bloomberg reported.
Only 38 percent of the 43 million airbag inflators under recall in the U.S. had been repaired as of May 26, according to data on the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website.
Globally, Takata faces up to $10 billion in potential liabilities for the ongoing recalls, penalties and settlements, according to some analysts. Takata was negotiating with other potential buyers — including market leader Autoliv Inc. of Sweden — months before reaching a deal with Key Safety.
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http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-in-bankruptcy
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