AGR Reports
breaking news

COMPANY NEWS
Safelite to Move East Coast Distribution Center to New Facility in Georgia
Safelite® Group will be moving its main East Coast distribution center from Enfield, N.C., to a new 357,000-square-foot facility in Braselton, Ga. The new distribution center is expected to become operational in September, and will be its largest to date (and parent company Belron’s largest in the world).

The facility will support distribution to states east of the Mississippi River. The new facility is 36 percent larger than the distribution center in Enfield, allowing for storage of 250,000 windshields and 90,000 other vehicle glass parts, according to the company.

As a result of the move, Safelite will be restructuring the Enfield distribution center, which is connected to its manufacturing plant. The company says it will retain its manufacturing operations there, along with 288 employees in that capacity, and the current distribution center in Enfield will now serve as a warehouse, and some of the distribution center employees will move to the manufacturing part of the facility.

“We considered maintaining our East Coast distribution center operations in Enfield, which are adjacent to the manufacturing plant, but because of the inability for us to further expand in that location we had to consider new options,” says Tom Feeney, president and chief executive officer of Safelite.

Safelite explored several options for the facility, according to a company statement, and looked at various sites along I-85 between Atlanta and Charlotte “in areas that would allow for more efficient and lower-cost transport of manufactured glass to points east of the Mississippi River.”

Safelite officials say they plan to expand 12 more warehouses in 2010, though details were not available at press time.

EFTEC Aftermarket Sold to Dutch Company
The EMS Group, which previously owned industry supplier EFTEC Aftermarket, has sold its aftermarket adhesive division to a Dutch company, Facilitas Bergeyk B.V. Specific terms of the purchase were not disclosed, but in its statement about the sale, EMS notes that the purchase price was a “high single-digit Euro million figure.” EMS Group will retain its OEM adhesive division, EMS-EFTEC.

The transfer of ownership has already occurred, and Facilitas has taken over EFTEC’s production site and logistics center in Lugde, Germany.

In a company statement, EMS notes that this expands the automotive aftermarket offerings of FACILITAS and that the company has made a long-term agreement to now supply aftermarket auto glass adhesives to EMS. Likewise, EMS-EFTEC will continue to supply FACILITAS with its product, which is made in Romanshorn, Switzerland.

EFTEC North America spokesperson Joseph Renzi says no changes are expected for the way the company operates or for its customers.

“It’s an absolutely huge opportunity for us,” he told AGRR magazine/glassBYTEs.com™. “We’re extremely excited about it, because we are now expanding our operations.”

SIKA Acquires ADCO’s Replacement Adhesive Systems Business
SIKA AG has announced that its U.S. subsidiary, SIKA Corp., has acquired the automotive glass replacement business of ADCO Products Inc.

According to a statement from SIKA AG, ADCO will be integrated into SIKA’s aftermarket business unit in the United States and its industry division in Canada and Latin America.

As part of the transaction, SIKA acquired the rights to the “Titan” brand name of auto glass adhesives. Four sales representatives from ADCO’s AGR division are expected to join SIKA’s existing 21-person sales force, according to the press release. The names of those moving to SIKA had not yet been released.

Reid Achieves ISO 9001:2008 Certification
Reid Manufacturing Co. in Coopersville, Mich., has become certified to ISO 9001:2008 standards.

“The system streamlines everything,” says Reid president Jeffrey Cothery. “We can respond to customers faster, implement changes faster, and manufacture products faster while we make sure our quality remains extremely high.”

Novus Holds 2010 Super Session in San Diego
Novus Glass franchisees from across the country gathered in early March in San Diego at the Hotel Del Coronado to share education and experiences. The Novus Super Session 2010 featured a number of educational seminars and an interactive vendor fair, as well as the company’s annual franchisee awards.

The 2010 Novus Awards Banquet also was held during the event. Franchisees were treated to dinner and cheered on their fellow franchises as director of national accounts Jim Olson announced the winners. Mark Pixley, George Lytton and Vanessa Terrell from Sheridan, Wyo. were named Franchises of the Year, while Gary Fix and family from Mora, Minn., and Rusty and Carrie Cox from Chehalis, Wash., were announced as the runner-ups. Novus recognized those who have been in business the longest, including the presentation of a 30-year award to Paul Torgerson from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

In a recent interview with AGRR magazine, Allan Skidmore, co-executive chairperson and chief executive officer of TCG International Inc., parent company of Novus, predicted that more and more auto glass transactions will take place online in the coming years. Skidmore’s company, which also owns Speedy Glass, Trans America Glass Network and Shat R Proof, launched its own site for this, www.windshields.com, in late 2007.

“A very big change I expect to occur in the next ten years are more online glass transactions, which are already starting to take place through Internet media such as windshields.com,” says Skidmore. “Online glass transactions will form a major part of the retail glass business. Businesses will need to embrace this new way of operating to survive. With this change, I still expect to see the independent family operations existing with the major operators throughout Canada and United States.”?

Windshields.com offers an auto glass business locator service, quoting mechanisms and a variety of information about auto glass to consumers. It also offers an online option for auto glass businesses to sign up to be listed.
www.windshields.com

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