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Watts Tyre Group announce Partnership with GKN Wheels FAD for Off Highway assemblies - Wednesday, December 17, 2008

 Watts Tyre Group is announcing a partnership with the world’s leading manufacturer of off-highway wheels, GKN Wheels FAD, part of the OffHighway division of GKN plc, to service the agricultural and construction equipment aftermarkets in the UK and Ireland.

Watts will distribute GKN Wheels FAD’s range of agricultural wheels for vehicles such as trailers and tractors as standalone units to the market in general and as fitted tyre and wheel assemblies to OEM’s in the agricultural and construction sectors.

Watts OE Manager Paul Cook commented “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to broaden our scope of operations. Watts is automatically associated with the materials handling sector; this agreement allows us to introduce to new markets our traditional values of service expertise, quality and product knowledge. To have a partner of GKN Wheels FAD’s stature is very important as it means that we add to our current portfolio of world class products.”

For GKN Wheels FAD, the partnership with Watts provides an opportunity to extend its products to aftermarket users of off-highway wheels in the UK’s agricultural and construction sectors for the first time.

GKN Wheels FAD Area Sales Manager Adrien St-Jean concluded: “We are delighted to be in partnership with Watts to service this market. We believe that there is great scope for success within these sectors and that this partnership will represent great value for customers through superior products and service.”

 
GKN Wheels in China - Tuesday, February 19, 2008
 GKN announces a further step in its expansion within China with the acquisition of one of the leading manufacturers of wheels for the domestic off-highway industry.
 
GKN announces a further step in its expansion within China with the acquisition of one of the leading manufacturers of wheels for the domestic off-highway industry.

The acquisition of the Liuzhou Steel Rim Factory in Liuzhou City in Southern China will create a strong presence for GKN’s OffHighway Division in a rapidly expanding market. The company will also become a manufacturing centre for the export of wheels on a global basis.
The operation in Liuzhou employs 550 people, produces wheels for agricultural and construction equipment, forklift trucks, harbour cranes and light vehicles and had sales revenues of £9 million in 2005. It is being acquired for a total consideration of £4 million which will be satisfied from existing resources.

Martyn Vaughan, Chief Executive of GKN OffHighway, said: “We are the world’s leading manufacturer of wheels for the agricultural and construction sector with manufacturing facilities in Europe and the Americas. This acquisition now creates a significant position in China.

“We intend to expand within this growing domestic market but we will also develop Liuzhou as an efficient, low cost manufacturing centre from which we will be able to grow within Asia and also supply both our North American and European customers.”

GKN has operated in China for 18 years and currently employs some 2,800 people across its Driveline, Sinter Metals and OffHighway operations. Current plans envisage the Group’s China workforce increasing to around 6,000 within four years. This would make China the third largest concentration of employment within the global GKN Group.

 

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