National Tube Form (NTF) Wins Contract with Tier One Supplier for Engine Components December 15, 2003 – NTF announced today that it has been awarded a contract to supply Cummins Engine Company with a series of metal tubular fan shroud mounting brackets and an oil suction tube assembly which will be used on the Cummins B5.9 Turbo Diesel Engine power plant in Dodge Ram pick-up trucks. As part of a new mid-year 2004 program, the contract calls for NTF to supply these items for several years.
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National Tube Form (NTF) Secures Catalytic Converter Shell Assembly Contract with Visteon Corp. as part of the MEGA program December 19, 2003 – NTF announced today that it has been awarded a contract to supply Visteon Corp. with Catalytic Converter Shell Assemblies for their Mega exhaust system program beginning with three 2005 model year platforms. The Mega exhaust system will initially be utilized on full-size pickup trucks and SUVs for Ford Motor Company. NTF will manufacture the stainless steel shell for the catalytic converter assembly, which includes a formed tube and hot exhaust gas sensor outlet. The new converter assembly is expected to reduce overall cost while providing cleaner emissions. “This project emphasizes the high level of satisfaction and value that NTF brings as an exhaust assembly supplier to Visteon” said Rick Whipp, vice president. The assemblies
will be manufactured at NTF’s Fort Wayne, Indiana facility
beginning in July 2004 and are expected to create a minimum of sixteen
full-time manufacturing positions for several years. |
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Local family reacquires tube factory January, 2003 - A Tube fabrication plant that has changed hands twice since 1999 is back under local ownership and with the family that gave it life. Whipp Capital Partners LLC said Thursday that it completed the acquisition of National Tube Form, 3405 Engle road, from Carthage, MO based Leggett & Platt Inc. in late January. Financial terms of the deal were not discussed. National Tube, which employs about 160, was owned by members of the Whipp family when it was sold in 1999 to St. Louis based Excaliber Holding. Excaliber later filed for bankruptcy. Leggett & Platt, a fortune 500 company, acquired National Tube in September 2001 through an auction that was part of the bankruptcy proceedings, said Jack Crusa, a senior vice president of the company."It
was part of the package," Crusa said. "We determined within
a reasonable amount of time that National Tube Form did not fit
our strategic plans as well as it could have." Leggett & Platt is best known for products that show up in household items, such as mattress inner springs and recliner mechanisms, and automotive seating components such as lumbar support systems. Nation Tube, founded by the Whipp family in 1969, manufacutes metal tube assemblies, such as automotive exhaust parts, ranging from one-quarter inch to 6 inches in diameter. The 110,000-square foot Engle Road plant produces annual sales of about $20 million. Rick Whipp of Whipp Capital Partners said the family initially sold National Tube because Excaliber was growing by acquisitions and made a good offer for the operation. When the offer was made, Whipp said National Tube didn't fit with some of his family's long term goals. Whipp employed about 245 when Excaliber acquired it in 1999. Family members now involved in Whipp Capital are optimisitic about National Tube's future. "We felt it was a good opportunity to get back into the business," Rick Whipp said. |
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National Tube supplies more than 10,000 tube assemblies per day that used in vehicles and products including Ford Trucks and vans, the Saturn Ion, Jeep Wrangler and Cummins diesel engines. "The Company," Whipp said, "is positioned for considerable growth with added 2004 model year automotive contracts and a multitude of orders from smaller customers returning to the supplier they have grown accustom to and counted on for 30 years. Copyright © 2003 National Tube Form, LLC |
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