Dana Consolidates Torque/Traction Unit

Roughly one-third of Dana Corp.'s $10 billion in sales comes from torque and traction products, such as axles and driveshafts. The segments are strategically crucial to Dana, yet surprisingly, there has been little integration between the two. But the supplier is combining them into one global unit, with a new $24 million headquarters to be built southwest of Toledo, OH, on 30 acres in Monclova Township. The new Torque and Traction Technologies Group headquarters will stand several miles from Dana's world headquarters in Toledo.

The consolidation is driven by the growing popularity of modules and systems, the migration toward more complex independent rear suspensions for SUVs and Dana's desire to better understand the impact of torque and traction products on ride and handling and noise, vibration and harshness.

As part of the consolidation, 300 employees (in engineering and sales) will be invited to relocate from Fort Wayne, IN, Dana's current home for axle technology. Dana's driveshaft operations currently are based in Holland, OH, a Toledo suburb. Some 200 employees there will relocate to the new headquarters.

Groundbreaking for the new divisional headquarters is set for this summer, with construction concluding by the end of 2003. Government incentives are generous, including job grants of $20,000 per year for 10 years; school tax abatements; and $7 million in bond money through the Northwest Ohio Bond Fund. Lucas County will construct new roads and install water and sewer lines by June 2003. The State of Ohio is offering job tax credits of 70% for 10 years, worth an estimated $5 million.