Ford Motor Company is selling its Automotive Components Holdings (ACH) Glass Operations along with its plants in Nashville, Tenn., and Tulsa, Okla. and its subsidiary Vidriocar in Juarez, Mexico to Glass Products of Tulsa, Okla., the company announced April 18.
The ACH Glass Operations supplied original equipment glass for 2.7 million vehicles last year. About 1,600 full-time employees work in the operations.
The sale is part of Ford's North American Way Forward plan which was designed to reduce operating costs by $ 5 billion by the end of 2008 said Mark Fields, Ford's president of The Americas.
With this agreement, ACH has sold one business and has signed memos of understand outlining the framework for the sale of four others. The ACH fuel rail business and its El Jarudo subsidiary were sold recently. Negotiations are continuing regarding the climate control business and the Sheldon Road Plant near Plymouth, Mich.; the fascia and fuel tank businesses and the Milan (Mich.) Plant; and the ACH propshaft business, which currently is one of the products produced at a Monroe, Mich., facility.
ACH is a temporary company established and managed by Ford to ensure the flow of quality components and systems while preparing the automotive component operations for sale or idling. Today, the $4 billion company and its 12 plants are supported by 12,000 full-time employees, mostly leased from Visteon or Ford.
