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Archives
- Heavy Truck & Equipment
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Cummins
Confirms Business Tepid
(04/13/01)
Valves (Unfortunately) Front Page News (04/13/01)
Speculation on DaimlerChrysler truck
strategy (04/12/01)
Caterpillar sees
elec-crisis silver lining (04/12/01)
CNH tractors in China
(04/11/01)
Raiders hit Sulzer (4/10/01)
Trucks Chase Fewer Drivers (3/09/01)
Sulzer Targets 'Pure Plays' (3/09/01)
Cummins
Sets Sights 'Low' (3/09/01)
Freightliner: Time to Move Trucks
(3/09/01)
WSJ: Daimler wants Mitsubishi Fuso (3/08/01)
Applied Downbeat (3/06/01)
Briggs & Stratton Acquisition
(3/02/01)
Dril-Quip Earnings Slip on Larger Sales
(3/02/01)
Navistar Medium Truck Blitz
Pairing Up Continues with Cummins-Paccar
Deal
Deere Net Leaps (2/13/01)
Pairing Up Continues with Cummins-Paccar
Deal
Pentair Squeezes Tools, Equipment, but Leaves
Pumps Alone
Ford, in Navistar Deal, Rationalizes Truck
Business (2/13/01)
$1 Billion Dresser Sale
Textron Builds Order Book, Tightens
Certain Operations |
| Cummins
Confirms Business Tepid --
Cummins Inc. surprised no one yesterday with 1st quarter
earnings that were down nearly half versus the same period last
year. The company is the largest supplier of diesel engines
for heavy trucks, and the heavy truck industry is currently
extremely weak. (04/13/01) |
| Valves
(Unfortunately) Front Page News --
The Wall Street Journal featured a story today about
problems with oil removal and transport in Alaska, emphasizing
that the environmentally-friendly technology that President
Bush touts to support his energy policy is flawed. A key element
of the Journal story is the allegation that "almost
a third of the safety shutoff valves tested at one drilling
platform failed to close." The paper suggests that "the
valves can't be relied upon to shut in an emergency, creating
the potential for a natural catastrophe." (04/13/01) |
| Speculation
on DaimlerChrysler truck strategy --
The Wall Street Journal suggested today that DaimlerChrysler
will pursue a dual strategy to produce trucks in Asia: heavy
trucks will be produced jointly with Mitsubishi (where
DaimlerChrysler just increased its stake by buying out Volvo's
investment), and light trucks will be produced jointly with
Korea's Hyundai, where the company is currently negotiating
a 50/50 joint venture. (04/12/01) |
| Cat
sees elec-crisis silver lining
-- As problems continue to plague
big electric utilities in the Western U.S., and support grows
for localized power generation ("micropower"), Caterpillar
announced plans for sharply increased generator production in
the coming year. The 30% production increase represents about
$1 billion in business. (04/12/01) |
| CNH
Tractors in China - CNH (Case
New Holland) has announced plans to produce 18,000 tractors
annually in a joint venture with Shanghai Tractor and International
Combustion Engine. The venture will produce tractors in
the under-100 hp range, to complement an existing joint venture
it has with Harbin Machinery Plant in the over-100 hp range.
(More at www.cnh.com.)(04/11/01) |
|
Raiders hit Sulzer - In a continuing
saga of interest to participants in the pump & valve field,
as well as other engineering markets, the "flagship of
Switzerland's engineering industry," Sulzer Group,
is being pursued by corporate raider Incentive Capital.
(More information at www.incentivecapital.ch
and www.sulzer.com. See
also report on the casting
industry in Switzerland.) (4/10/01) |
| Trucks
Chase Fewer Drivers -- US Freightways
(Chicago, IL) said Friday that results were weak in January
and February, and that they expect March to be weak as well.
"The company has taken steps to increase cost efficiencies.
Among these actions are a substantial cutback in capital spendng
and significant reductions in the labor force." (Full info
at www.usfreightways.com.)
(3/09/01) |
| Sulzer
Targets 'Pure Plays' -- Sulzer
Ltd. (Switzerland) in announcing results for 2000, said
it wants to spin off its medical division. The company believes
that both Sulzer Medica and Sulzer Industrial
-- which makes pumps, turbines, and other industrial equipment
-- would benefit from offering investors a 'pure play,' rather
than being in a conglomerate. (Full info at www.sulzer.com.)
(3/09/01) |
| Cummins
Sets Sights 'Low' -- Cummins Inc.
(Columbus, IN) said it has formed a 50/50 joint venture with
Westport Innovations Inc. (Vancouver, BC) to develop
and market low-emissions, high performance natural gas engines.
(Full info at www.cummins.com.)
(3/09/01) Separately, the New York Times reported 3/09/01
that Cummins would close the Onan Power Equipment plant in St.
Peter , MN. (View World Foundry Forum topic on new U.S. diesel
regulations.) (View review of Cummins corporate
history.) |
| Freightliner:
Time to Move Trucks -- The
Wall Street Journal reported today that Freightliner
LLC (Willoughby, OH), a division of DaimlerChrysler
(Stuttgart, Germany & Detroit, MI) will initiate an incentive
program to increase sales of its big Class 8 heavy trucks to
relieve inventory pressures. Freightliner said in January that
net orders for heavy-duty trucks decreased 38% in 2000, and
the company projected a decrease of up to 45% in 2001. The company
took steps as early as last August to cut production, and in
January it announced a further small reduction in employment
and output, focussing on its Portland, OR, facility. The new
Wall Street Journal report on sales incentives appears
to have been based on a February 13 letter from Freightliner
president James L. Hebe to dealers, which the Journal quoted
as saying, "Business as usual will just not work. Bold steps
must be taken." Separately, Freightliner has had to deal with
a brake recall affecting 133,000 trucks since last November.
(Information about the company can be found at www.freightliner.com.)
(3/09/01) |
| WSJ:
Daimler wants Mitsubishi Fuso -- The
Wall Street Journal reported today that DaimlerChrysler
(Stuttgart, Germany & Detroit, MI) is in discussions with AB
Volvo (Sweden) about buying out Volvo's 3% stake in Mitsubishi
Motors (Japan). DaimlerChrysler already owns 34% of Mitsubishi.
Volvo's stake was preparatory to a larger investment in Mitsubishi's
heavy truck business, Mitsubishi Fuso. It is now considered
likely that DaimlerChrysler will take Volvo's place, uniting
Mitsubishi's and its own heavy truck businesses to create a
global business platform. The Wall Street Journal further
speculated that this will encourage Volvo to align with Nissan
Diesel (Japan), a move that would be logical because of
significant interests in both Volvo and Nissan held by a third
company, Renault SA (France). In fact, Volvo, Renault,
and Mack Truck (Allentown.PA) have already formed a joint
venture unit called "Volvo Global Truck." (3/08/01) |
| Applied
Downbeat -- A leading distributor
of equipment parts, Applied Industrial Technologies (Cleveland,
OH), said it expects sales to be flat and earnings to be off
as much as ten percent by the time they finish their fiscal
year June 30. The company offers more than 2 million parts for
use by MRO and OEM customers in broad array of industries. (More
at www.appliedindustrial.com.)
(3/06/01) |
| Briggs
& Stratton Acquisition -- The
Wall Street Journal reported that lawn and garden engine maker
Briggs & Stratton (Fond du Lac, WI) has agreed to
by Generac Portable Products (Jefferson, WI), which makes
generators and pressure washers, in a $260 million deal. (3/02/01) |
| Dril-Quip
Earnings Slip on Larger Sales -- Offshore
drilling equipment maker Dril-Quip (Houston, TX) announced
revenues of $164 million, up 5%, for the year ending December
31, but per share earnings were off 7% to $0.68/share. (3/02/01) |
| Navistar
Medium Truck Blitz --
Navistar International (Chicago, IL) announced a flurry
of initiatives last week in an effort to assert its determination
to remain strong in the North American and Global markets for
Medium Trucks. The focus of all of the initiatives is additional
quantifiable value for end-users, such as lower service costs
and increased uptime due to advanced diagnostics and better
driver productivity due to advanced ergonomics. A major feature
of the offering is "optimized drivetrain performance, which
is achieved by matching transmission shift points with engine
power curves," providing increased driver control, vehicle reliability
and fuel economy. The drivetrain incorporates "Intuitive Shifting
™ Controllers" to integrate the company's transmissions
and diesel engines, and "(More information at www.navistar.com.) |
| Pairing
Up Continues with Cummins-Paccar Deal --
The biggest independent engine producer -- Cummins Engine
(Columbus, IN) -- and the only one of four dominant truck
makers without captive engine manufacturing capacity -- Paccar
Inc. (Bellevue, WA) -- announced a long-term supply agreement
on February 12. According to analysis in The Wall Street Journal,
Cummins faced declining profitability in its engine segment,
in large part due to aggressive competition from Caterpillar
Inc. (Peoria, IL). Paccar markets trucks under the Kenworth,
Peterbilt, DAF, and Foden nameplates, and is said to have a
22% market share for trucks in North America. Paccar's main
competitors -- DaimlerChrysler AG, Navistar International
corp., and Volvo AB -- all make at least some of their own
engines. (Click here
to read a review of The Engine That Could: 75 Years of Values-Driven
Change at Cummins Engine Company. More information on the new
agreement is available at www.cummins.com
and www.paccar.com.)
|
| Deere
Net Leaps --
Deere & Company (Moline, IL) posted sharply higher earnings
in the first quarter, compared to a year ago on strong agricultural
business. First quarter earnings of $56.4 million were up 50%
over a year ago; overall, revenues were up 15% on unit sales
that were up 17%. The company says the outlook is for growth
in unit sales in the 9-10% range for the full year 2001. (More
at www.deere.com.) (2/13/01) |
| Pairing
Up Continues with Cummins-Paccar Deal --
The biggest independent engine producer -- Cummins Engine
(Columbus, IN) -- and the only one of four dominant truck
makers without captive engine manufacturing capacity -- Paccar
Inc. (Bellevue, WA) -- announced a long-term supply agreement
on February 12. According to analysis in The Wall Street Journal,
Cummins faced declining profitability in its engine segment,
in large part due to aggressive competition from Caterpillar
Inc. (Peoria, IL). Paccar markets trucks under the Kenworth,
Peterbilt, DAF, and Foden nameplates, and is said to have a
22% market share for trucks in North America. Paccar's main
competitors -- DaimlerChrysler AG, Navistar International
corp., and Volvo AB -- all make at least some of their own
engines. (Click here
to read a review of The Engine That Could: 75 Years of Values-Driven
Change at Cummins Engine Company. More information on the new
agreement is available at www.cummins.com
and www.paccar.com.)
|
| Pentair
Squeezes Tools, Equipment, but Leaves Pumps Alone
-- Last week, Pentair
Inc. (St. Paul, MN), which holds leading positions in the
global markets for several categories of pumps and valves, announced
it had cut 400 jobs since the end of the third quarter, mainly
in its tools unit. In December, Pentair announced plans to sell
its businesses that make automotive service and lifting equipment,
and automated lubrication systems, in order to better focus
on a reorganizaiton of its tool business. The water equipment
side of the business, meanwhile, continues to have excellent
results. According to the company, Pentair Pump & Pool Group
is the tenth largest water and wastewater pump business in the
world, and number two in North America, while Pentair Water
Treatment holds the number one position in the worldwide water
treatment control valve market. (More information at www.pentair.com.)
|
| Ford,
in Navistar Deal, Rationalizes Truck Business
-- Ford Motor Company (Detroit,
MI) and Navistar International Corp. (Chicago, IL) have
announced an agreement under which medium trucks would be built
by Navistar to supply the 12,000 units Ford needs annually to
sustain its 7% share of the North American market. Navistar's
own nameplates have a 38% share in North America. The companies
will also collaborate on development of advanced diesel engines.
The announcement follows other recent production consolidations
agreements in the truck industry, including one between Paccar
and Cummins engine in the past few days. Ford projects the arrangement
will free its plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico, for other products.
(NY Times/Wall Street Journal.) (2/1301) |
| $1
Billion Dresser Sale
-- Oil field services company
Halliburton (Dallas, TX) announced at the end of January
that it had agreed to sell its Dresser Equipment Group (DEG)
subsidiary for $1.1 billion. DEG consists of DEG consists of
Dresser Valve Division, Dresser DMD-Roots Division, Dresser
Instrument Division, Dresser Wayne Division and Dresser Waukesha
Division. These businesses manufacture and market equipment
used primarily in the energy, petrochemical, power and transportation
industries. The equipment group was part of Halliburton's $7.7
billion acquisition of Dresser Industries in 1998. Halliburton
Company, founded in 1919, is the world's largest provider of
products and services to the petroleum and energy industries.
(More information at www.halliburton.com.) |
|
Textron
Builds Order Book, Tightens Certain Operations
-- In announcing financial results
on January 23, Textron Inc. (Providence, RI) said that
it will lay off 5% of its workforce in a reorganization of
its automotive, fastening, and industrial divisions. It previously
announced plans to close 20 unspecified plants. Textron also
announced that, during the previous quarter, the company's
aircraft segment's backlog increased to a record level of
$8.1 billion. For the full year, the Cessna subsidiary booked
a record 415 new jet orders, up 24% from 335 orders in 1999.
(More information at www.textron.com.)
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