9-7-2011 REVSTONE NAMES KEVIN G. CRAMTON CEO
Revstone announced today that Kevin G. Cramton has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Cramton brings to Revstone more than 25 years of experience in general and financial management, operational and financial restructuring, and developing and growing businesses globally, including emerging markets. Most recently, he was Managing Director of RHJ International (Ripplewood Holdings), a publicly traded, investment holding company where he was responsible for overseeing portfolio companies and global M&A activities. He recently served as Chairman of the Board of Niles, an Asian automotive electronics company with global operations, leading a major business turnaround to record profitability and cash flow.
Prior to joining RHJI, Mr. Cramton worked in various positions in a twenty-year career at Ford Motor Company, including assignments in Ford’s manufacturing, marketing/distribution, and financial services businesses. Mr. Cramton has extensive international business experience, including assignments in the Asian, North American and European regions. He last served as Director, Corporate Business Development, with global responsibilities for Ford’s M&A activities.
Mr. Cramton received his MBA and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees from Michigan State University. He is an alumnus of the London Business School Executive Management Program (ADP).
“I am very excited to join the Revstone team as we develop and execute a strategic plan to profitably grow the business and support our customers’ needs on a global basis,” said Cramton. “The businesses Revstone acquired over the last few years have great potential with strong customer recognition. The Revstone team is working to unite these businesses under one vision, with one unified leadership team, and a shared strategic plan. This will create a stronger company for all of our stakeholders, including our customers, suppliers, investors and employees.”
8-8-2011 REVSTONE AARKEL RECEIVES "BEST PERFORMANCE" AWARD FROM JATCO
Jatco – a leading powertrain provider for Nissan – has recognized Revstone Aarkel for its excellent supplier performance during 2010. The company was one of only eight suppliers recognized this year. This is the first time that Jatco has recognized its suppliers with Best Performance awards, and the first time Revstone Aarkel has received this prestigious honor.
Revstone Aarkel supplies Jatco with large die cast inserts used in their transmission dies. Dimensionally, the product must conform to very high standards of accuracy, as the inserts must fit into holder block pockets that are cut by another company. Revstone beat out competing suppliers of this product by delivering inserts with of higher quality and conformity to spec at lower lead times.
Winning the award puts Revstone Aarkel into an elite category of suppliers for the multi-billion-dollar global transmissions supplier. The acknowledgement of our ability has already led to increased requests to quote additional products for both Jatco and Nissan, both of whom are sourcing a greater portion of their work with North American suppliers.
6-10-2011 REVSTONE NAMES MARK MITCHELL CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, MYRA MORELAND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES, MARKETING, AND COMMUNICATIONS
Revstone announced today the appointment of two key executive positions. Earlier this week, Mark Mitchell was promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer, and Myra Moreland was named Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Communications.
Mark Mitchell joined Revstone in 2009 as the President of the Formed Metals Group, whose operations he will continue to manage. Additionally, he will now have responsibility for all of Revstone's manufacturing operations and SG&A activities.
Prior to joining Revstone, Mitchell was the President of MPI International, where he led the company's restructuring efforts. These efforts generated a competitive cost structure that has resulted in a sustainable business model despite significantly lower North American automotive production volumes. Having help various operations positions over the last thirty years, he has a strong foundation in Lean Manufacturing, optimizing plant efficiencies and throughput, and plant consolidation to match business conditions. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Cincinnati.
Myra Moreland has also been with Revstone since 2009, acting as a marketing and communications liaison and customer relations consultant to the firm's senior leadership. In her role, she will lead the continued consolidation of Revstone's sales, marketing and communications activities, including employee communications, public relations, government relations and investor relations.
Prior to joining Revstone, Moreland held a number of executive at automotive manufacturing and consulting companies. Most recently, she was President of Moreland Consulting Services. She also served as Executive Vice President of Customer Relations, Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Metaldyne. Moreland began her automotive career as Founder and President of Moreland Communications, a full service communications company deeply rooted in the automotive industry. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University.
3-07-2011 REVSTONE ANNOUNCES INTENT TO GROW HIGH PERFORMANCE OFFERING
Revstone announced today that it will refocus its strategy in performance vehicles to become a second stage manufacturer and a distributor of aftermarket performance parts. The move will allow the company – which currently produces Saleen Performance Vehicles and Saleen Speedlab parts – to leverage its size and customer relationships to provide a wider range of high performance offerings to consumers.
“The teams responsible for engineering and development of Saleen bring a level of engineering prowess and passion that is second to none,” said Bob LaCourciere, President of Revstone Aftermarket. “We want to apply that same talent and dedication to second stage manufacturing”.
As part of this strategic shift, the company has announced that the 2011 Saleen S302 (shown at the 2010 SEMA show) will be the last car produced under the Saleen name. The S302 vehicles are currently in production; all production will be completed by the third quarter of this year.
“We feel it is time to retire the legend, and to usher in a new era of performance,” continued LaCourciere. “We will continue to honor our warranties on Saleen vehicles and Saleen parts will be available through Speedlab”.
The company plans to hold a webinar in the second quarter of 2011 to answer any questions and provide more insight into its plans for the transition.
2-23-2011 REVSTONE HIRES DAN DRESSLER AS VICE PRESIDENT OF PURCHASING AND SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT
Revstone Industries, LLC is pleased to announce the addition of Dan Dressler to its executive team as Vice President of Global Purchasing and Supplier Development.
“Revstone’s continued success hinges upon two key strategies,” said Tom Brady, President. “First is the acquisition of market leading companies with significant opportunities for organic growth and vertical integration. Second, and just as critical, is the restructuring of those companies to realize substantial cost saving and growth synergies. Dan will be particularly instrumental in the achievement of this second strategy, as he streamlines our rapidly expanding global purchasing activities.”
In his new role, Dressler will have responsibility for developing Revstone's procurement strategy, policies, and procedures in alignment with its global facilities, resources and common ERP system (Plex On-line). As a demonstrated thought leader in the identification and implementation of sourcing best systems and processes, Dressler will establish contracts that secure a long-term competitive position for the organization and ensure continuous supply.
Dressler brings more than 11 years of automotive experience in engineering, manufacturing, and purchasing to Revstone. Most recently, he served at American Axle Manufacturing in Guanajuato, Mexico, where he had responsibility for managing procurement and supplier quality development in Mexico. He received a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science Degrees from Lawrence Technological University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
“Revstone is a dynamic company with an impressive number of leading edge technologies in the marketplace,” said Dressler. “I am excited to support the company’s future growth plans by building a global purchasing and supplier development organization from the ground level, and helping improve its financial results by developing global supply chain strategies that optimize the company’s total annual spend across all commodities.”
1-12-2011 REVSTONE ANNOUNCES PURCHASE OF NEW FABRICATION & STAMPING AND MAGNESIUM DIE CASTING FACILITIES
Chihuahua, Mexico - Revstone Industries, LLC announced today its purchase of a magnesium die casting facility in Chihuahua, Mexico from Compass Automotive Group, LLC, and the addition of a fabrication and stamping facility to its campus in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The magnesium casting facility will operate under Revstone’s Cast Metals Group as Revstone Chihuahua, LLC. The fabrication and stamping facility will operate under Revstone’s Formed Metals Group as part of Revstone SLP, LLC.
Both new operations will further Revstone’s strategy to significantly increase its presence in Mexico and will complement the company’s existing precision machining and assembly capabilities already in operation at San Luis Potosi (102,000 sq. ft.). Said Robert Carney, President of Revstone Mexico, “With the addition of these two plants, we are continuing to live up to our commitment to our customers to be a reliable supplier of a wide range of engineered solutions on a global level.”
Revstone Chihuahua’s facility houses five die casting presses ranging from 600 tons to 1,200 tons, a hydraulic trim press, an overhead bridge crane, a spectrometer, and other valuable die casting equipment. In the near future, three 1,200-ton machines will be installed.
The new state of the art fabrication and stamping facility (120,000 sq. ft.) will initially house 11 progressive and transfer presses (ranging in size from 400 tons to 800 tons), robotic welding and tube & plate laser cutting machines, and other related fabrication equipment. Further capabilities to include fineblanking will be announced at a later date. Operations are scheduled to begin in June of this year.
12-02-2010 REVSTONE ACQUIRES DEXTER FOUNDRY
Revstone Industries, LLC announced today its acquisition of Fairfield, Iowa-based Dexter Foundry from Dexter Apache Holdings, Inc. The company will operate as part of Revstone’s Cast Metals Group under the name Revstone Castings Fairfield. The foundry is the second to join the Revstone family of companies in the past year, after Revstone purchased the 250,000 sq. ft. shell mold gray iron foundry in Vassar, Michigan from Grede Holdings, LLC in December 2009.
Dexter Foundry operations pour gray and ductile iron castings for a wide array of customers, currently making over 8000 different parts for over 250 companies in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The addition of these customers and capabilities will allow Revstone to diversify its already significant automotive manufacturing interests to include agricultural and railroad products, construction equipment, residential appliance components, and many others.
The acquisition of Dexter Foundry fits into two key facets of Revstone’s buying strategy: vertical integration and diversification,” said David Jaeger, President of Revstone Cast Metals Group. “We are moving further upstream in our value chain, which benefits our customers, while substantially increasing the diversity of our product line and customer base and reinforcing our financial stability.”
Continued Jaeger, “Operationally, the Dexter Foundry contributes a versatile green sand casting operation, an existing portfolio of various types of metal materials and processes, broad operational expertise, strong delivery and quality performance, and a skilled and experienced work force that is responsible for all of these strengths. We will be offering all employees the opportunity to continue working with us, and we are excited to welcome them to the Revstone team.”
“Our long term interest has always been in ensuring the ongoing viability and success of Dexter Foundry,” said Patrick Albregts, President and CEO, Dexter Apache Holdings, Inc. “As the industry continues to consolidate, it is increasingly challenging for standalone foundries to remain competitive. We are pleased to be able to partner with Revstone whose strategic position in the foundry industry will enhance Dexter Foundry’s success in the future. We look forward to supporting a smooth transition for all Dexter Foundry employees, customers and business partners.”