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INDUSTRY - April '98 On the Supply Side Dana Corporation Dana Corporation is an $8.3 billion global company with 50,000 employees and sites in nearly 30 countries. it is a world leader in the manufacture of auto parts and has Kentucky facilities in Danville, Elizabethtown, Fulton, Hopkinsville, and Louisville, as well as sites under construction in Dry Ridge and Owensboro. In January, Dana announced its acquisition of the heavy axle and brake business of Eaton Corporation. Dana paid approximately $287 million for the business, which had sales of nearly $660 million in 1997. The axle and brake business has facilities around the world, two of which are in Kentucky: one in Glasgow and the other in Henderson. Gary Corrigan, director of corporate communications, sees location as very important. "Automobile plants are not building warehouses for storage," says Corrigan. "That is an expensive and unnecessary step in global competition. People are trying to get closer to the customer, and the expressways are the modem rivers. 'Just in time' delivery is a reality." The Dana facility under construction in Owensboro will be providing parts for the new Toyota plant in Princeton, Indiana, about 60 miles away.
Budd Company The Budd Company does about $1.8 billion of business annually in auto parts manufacturing in North America. Budd has a stamping and assembly plant in Shelbyville that employs 600. A new plant under construction in Hopkinsville will employ another 200. "Generally speaking, the rule is to be located within 200 miles of the plant being supplied," says Paul Sichert, vice president of public affaits. But that range can be extended with rail service, he adds. Sichert emphasized, as did others interviewed for this article, that Kentucky's government and its reputation for productive employees were strong influences in Budd's decision to expand their operations here. "It was the magnificent performance of the workforce in Shelbyville and the continued cooperation of the Commonwealth people and the local people that encouraged us to put a second plant in Kentucky."
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