Ford's Fire Sale

Detroit's newest auto supplier came into the world an orphan, unloved and unwanted by its parents and long suffering from prenatal neglect.

Automotive Components Holdings LLC is a conglomeration of 23 plants and research facilities owned by Visteon Corp. for the past five years and before that by Visteon's former parent, Ford Motor Co.

Visteon, struggling for survival in the face of uncompetitive United Auto Workers union wage rates, hatched a deal with Ford in May to hand back the facilities to ACH, a new temporary entity managed by Ford.

At the helm of ACH is Al Ver, a Ford vice president and 33-year company veteran, who serves as CEO and chief operating officer.

His mission is to improve and sell the 23 facilities and to assure the 25,000 employees their jobs are secure.

Facilities that cannot be sold or whose employees resist efforts to improve efficiency are at risk of closure.

Ford and Visteon already have announced that a powertrain component plant in Ypsilanti, MI, will be closed and its operations consolidated with another facility.

ACH has 5,000 salaried workers who remain Visteon employees. About 80 Ford salaried employees also have been assigned to the new company.

On the hourly side, the entity has some 18,000 UAW employees, who are paid about $40 per hour by Ford as part of its master agreement with the UAW.