AKRON-Local opposition may scuttle Goodyear's plans to build an $18 million distribution center in Deer Creek Township, Ohio. A group of Deer Creek residents have placed a referendum on the November ballot to reverse the county's decision to zone the land as commercial, said Mayor David Eades of nearby London, Ohio.
The proposed 600,000-sq.-ft. distribution center is slated for a site near London, Ohio. It will distribute both original equipment and replacement tires and increase efficiency for the Goodyear, a company spokesman said.
If the project goes through, Goodyear will close distribution sites in Sharonville, Ohio, and Jackson, Mich., the spokesman said. Distribution operations in Brook Park, Ohio, also will be scaled back. The closings and cutbacks will displace about 40 workers overall, he said.
If voters reverse the zoning, Goodyear will build the distribution center elsewhere, the spokesman said, though he declined to disclose other possible sites.
The owner of the land, MTB Development Co., has filed a request with Madison County to have the city of London annex the parcel. If approved, the annexation would make the Deer Creek referendum vote moot.
The county will hold a hearing on the annexation request Sept. 30, Mr. Eades said.
ROMULUS, Mich.-The effects of various charges and an extraordinary loss left Hayes Wheels International Inc. with a net loss of $16.9 million for the second quarter, ended July 31.
Sales climbed 9.2 percent, compared with the 1995 quarter, to $165.3 million.
Hayes took charges amounting to $13 million after taxes for various items, including transactions related to its merger with/acquisition of Motor Wheel Corp. In addition, the company posted an extraordinary loss of $7.4 million after taxes for bond defeasance.
Without these unusual items, Hayes said its net income would have been $3.42 million, less than half the $7.21 million it earned the previous year. The decrease was largely due to higher interest expenses, the company said.
For the six months, Hayes lost $10.8 million on a 3.3-percent increase in sales to $321.4 million.
SEOUL, South Korea-Kumho Group, whose Kumho Tires unit is the 10th-largest tire maker in the world, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding this year.
Started in 1946 by the late In-Cheon Park as a small taxi company, the Kumho Group today is South Korea's 11th-largest conglomerate with 1995 sales in excess of $5 billion-$1.15 billion from tires.
The company has set lofty goals for its next 50 years: to become Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate with annual sales of $95 billion.
Coincident with the company's 50th anniversary, Chairman Seong-Yawng Park, eldest son of the founder, has retired and been succeeded by his brother, Jeong-Koo Park.
PHILADELPHIA-Oil refiner-marketer Sun Co. Inc., which produces Sunoco-brand lubricants, has agreed to purchase the Kendall and Amalie lubricants business from Witco Corp. for an undisclosed sum.
The deal is expected to close by the fourth quarter, pending government approval. The Kendall/Amalie business supplies motor oils and other lubricants to a variety of retail channels, including tire dealerships. Kendall/Amalie also produces private label lubricants and exports worldwide.
Sun said the purchase agreement includes the Kendall and Amalie brands, three blending and packaging plants, several marketing/distribution locations and supply contracts with more than 300 distributors. Sun currently produces lubricants at two refineries and operates two blending and packaging plants.
Sun said the acquisition will add to its position as a marketer of major branded lubricants.
RICHMOND, Va.-Carpenter Co. has opened a plant for the blending of urethane tire fill in Elkhart, Ind., its third such facility in the U.S. and its fourth worldwide.
The new plant, 200 miles from Chicago, will serve primarily Midwestern and Canadian customers of Carpenter's Rely Tire Fill System, the company said.
According to Baldwin Hickey, general manager of Carpenter's tire products division, the addition gives the company ``at least twice the blending facilities and many times the capacity'' of any other tire fill manufacturer or supplier.
AKRON-Goodyear closed the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) operation at its Niagara Falls, N.Y., chemical plant in August, citing the unit's small size and non-competitiveness. About 166 employees will be affected by the closure.
The tire maker also has announced it plans to sell its graphics products business and related equipment, located at its facility in Owens Sound, Ontario.
The business manufactures unvulcanized gum and friction fabrics for the printing and decorative art-stamp business. Workers in the unit will be transferred to the Owens Sound plant's power transmission belt operation, a Goodyear spokesman said.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.-Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. will sponsor the media center Nov. 5-8 at the SEMA/AI show in Las Vegas.
The center will offer a full range of equipment for the approximate-ly 250 media representatives registered for the show, BFS said.