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UPS, FedEx Threatened by New E-Commerce Strategies

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By Reuters

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By Alistair Barr

SAN FRANCISCO — UPS and FedEx might be worried about international shipments to slowing economies such as China, but perhaps they should be more concerned about what’s going on in their own backyards.

Major U.S. retailers are experimenting with new e-commerce strategies that could dent demand for package delivery services, particularly demand for shipments over long distances, according to analysts and industry executives.

Amazon.com (AMZN) is building its distribution warehouses closer to customers to save millions of dollars in shipping costs. The world’s largest online retailer is also increasingly using its own delivery trucks, cutting United Parcel Service and FedEx out of some parts of its fulfillment network.

Meanwhile, major brick-and-mortar retailers such as Walmart Stores (WMT), Best Buy (BBY) and Gap (GPS) are shipping more online orders from stores close to shoppers, rather than from warehouses hundreds of miles away.

“UPS and FedEx are not only watching this, they are likely concerned about it,” said Lou Tapper, an executive at third-party logistics company Longistics, who worked at FedEx for 18 years. “Big companies like Amazon and Walmart will dictate which direction this goes. Those are the companies that FedEx and UPS need to fill their planes and trucks.”

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United Parcel Service (UPS), the world’s largest package delivery company, on Friday cut its earnings forecasts, blaming overcapacity in the global air freight market, customers trading down to slower but cheaper shipping services, and a slowing U.S. industrial economy.

The move came after FedEx (FDX) said in June that it was raising shipping rates and cutting jobs and costs, as excess capacity in the air freight market had more than offset increased shipments.

Both package delivery companies set their fees according to zones that correspond to the distance a package has to travel.

For instance, FedEx’s Zone 2 is zero-to-150 miles from origin to destination, while Zone 4 is 301-to-600 miles. Shipping a 10-pound package in two days through Zone 4 costs $25.80, while the same package in Zone 2 costs 32 percent less at $17.50, according to FedEx’s latest rate card for consumers.

UPS uses similar zones for its domestic ground delivery service, which takes four to five days. Zone 4 costs $9.20, while Zone 2 costs $7.94 for a 10-pound package.

Retail companies get discounts for shipping big volumes of goods, but the percentage differences between the zones are similar, according to Joel Anderson, president of walmart.com.

Reducing Shipping Distances

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has been shipping online orders from its stores for several years. This year, it is expanding the program to 50 locations from 25.

“We are at least two zones closer by utilizing the stores,” Anderson said. “The …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Investigators Begin Looking into Boeing Dreamliner Fire

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By Reuters

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AP

By Estelle Shirbon

LONDON — Investigators started work Saturday to establish the cause of a fire on a Boeing Dreamliner at London’s Heathrow airport, a new setback for the high-tech model after it was grounded at the start of the year over battery problems.

The fire broke out on the plane, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, Friday afternoon, when it was parked at a remote stand with no passengers on board, eight hours after arriving from Addis Ababa. No one was injured.

External scorching could be seen close to the plane’s tail, in a different area from the bays containing batteries. There was no official indication of what could have caused the fire.

“The aircraft has been moved to a secure hangar at Heathrow and the investigation has begun,” said a spokesman for Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

The AAIB will lead the investigation, he said, working alongside the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board, Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing.

Analysts say Boeing (BA) will be keen to reassure airlines, travelers and investors over the cause of the fire as quickly as possible but it will be up to investigators to decide how much information to release and when. Under aviation rules there are restrictions on how much companies can say about the details of an ongoing accident investigation.

Meanwhile Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa’s top five carriers, said it would continue to fly its Dreamliner fleet.

“We have not grounded any of our aircraft,” the carrier said in an emailed statement Saturday. “The incident at Heathrow happened while the plane was on the ground and had been for more than eight hours and was not related to flight safety.”

Separately, engineers from Britain’s Thomson Airways were inspecting their own Boeing Dreamliner after it had to turn back during a flight Friday from Manchester in England to Sanford, Fla., because of an unspecified technical issue. Thomson Airways is one of six European airlines owned by TUI Travel, the world’s largest tour operator.

Battery Problems

The two incidents are a blow for Boeing particularly as the entire global fleet of Dreamliners had to be grounded for three months, ending in April, after one high-tech battery caught fire and another overheated.

Boeing shares closed down 4.7 percent at $101.87 Friday, knocking $3.8 billion off the company’s market capitalization.

Quoting Mark Mangooni, Ethiopian Airlines’ senior manager in Britain, the Financial Times reported that airline staff had discovered a problem with the aircraft’s air conditioning system during a routine inspection and had seen sparks but no flames.

The report didn’t make clear when this had happened. Reuters couldn’t reach Mangooni for comment.

Heathrow briefly closed both its runways to deal with the fire, and a spokeswoman said Saturday that the airport …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Delays Hit U.S. Airports As Furloughs Kick In, FAA Says

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By Reuters

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David Goldman/AP

By Alwyn Scott

NEW YORK — Travelers waited more than an hour for flights in New York and experienced delays at other U.S. airports on Sunday evening as furloughs of air traffic controllers began, reducing the ability of busy hubs to handle arrivals and departures, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The furloughs that started Sunday reduced staffing by 10 percent across the country. Last week, the FAA warned of delays up to 3½ hours at some airports as the agency cuts spending to meet reductions required under federal budget cuts.

New York‘s LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports reported delays of more than an hour, and Philadelphia international airport also reported delays due to furloughs, the FAA said.

Los Angeles International reported nearly a 2-hour delay at 10 p.m. ET, and Newark Liberty International reported 28-minute delays, though the FAA couldn’t confirm whether those were related to the staff cuts. Delays of up to 58 minutes in San Francisco and 29 minutes in Orlando, Fla., were due to construction and weather, the FAA said.

“Relatively good weather throughout the country and light traffic helped minimize air traffic delays,” FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.

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The delays come as the FAA furloughs its 47,000 employees, including nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers who manage the nation’s airspace.

The furloughs are set to last through September, the end of the U.S. fiscal year, and are expected to save about $200 million of the $637 million the agency must cut from its $16 billion budget, the FAA said last week.

Paul Rinaldi, president of the Air Traffic Controllers Association, said about 1,200 to 1,500 controllers will be staying home each day, on average, and that some airports might be able to shift staffing to reduce the effect of the furloughs. U.S. airports handle about 25,000 flights a day, he said.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/22/faa-furloughs-airport-delays/

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GE Profit Rises on Higher Jet-Engine Sales, Sale of NBC

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By Reuters

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Richard Drew/AP

By Ernest Scheyder

General Electric reported a first-quarter profit in line with Wall Street‘s expectations on Friday, as the conglomerate sold more jet engines and shed its stake in NBC Universal.

The world’s biggest maker of jet engines and electric turbines said it earned $3.53 billion, or 34 cents a share, compared with $3.03 billion, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 35 cents a share, matching analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose slightly to $35 billion, beating the $34.51 billion analysts had expected.

GE‘s order backlog — a closely watched indicator of future sales — rose to $216 billion from $210 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012.

General Electric Co. (GE) shares fell slightly to $22.65 in premarket trading.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/19/ge-earnings/

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Boeing's Dreamliner Could Resume Flights Next Month

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By The Associated Press

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Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com/AP

WASHINGTON — Published reports say Boeing’s grounded 787 jetliners could soon be flying again.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Aviation Administration is set to approve Boeing’s fix for the ion-lithium batteries. The 787 Dreamliner has been grounded since mid-January because of smoldering batteries that in one case caused a serious fire.

The Journal says the FAA is expected to announce Friday that Boeing’s redesigned batteries are safe. The fix includes more heat insulation and a battery box designed to vent any hot gases from the batteries outside the planes.

There was no immediate comment from the FAA and a Boeing Co. (BA) spokesman declined to comment on the report.

The New York Times, which also reported the development, says the aircraft could be back in service next month.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/19/boeing-787-dreamliner-resume-flights-may/

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Few Steps Remain in American Airlines, US Airways Merger

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By The Associated Press

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Matt Rourke/AP

By DAVID KOENIG

DALLAS — US Airways began studying a potential merger with American Airlines several months before American filed for bankruptcy protection in late 2011, according to papers filed Monday by the two companies.

The documents give a blow-by-blow account of how the merger was negotiated, including the thorny issues of how to share ownership of the merged company and who would run it.

The companies also revived a proposed $20 million severance deal for Tom Horton, the CEO of American parent AMR Corp. A federal judge had declined to approve the payout, finding that it violated a 2005 bankruptcy law, but he had left open the possibility that a payment could be reconsidered later.

US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), whose CEO, Doug Parker, will run the combined company, played up the importance of Monday’s filings with the bankruptcy court in New York and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“With these materials filed, we are one step closer to completing the merger, which we expect to occur in the third quarter of this year,” US Airways officials said a memo to employees.

The bankruptcy court has already signaled approval for the merger, which would create the world’s largest airline. The deal faces only a few more hurdles, including approval from the U.S. Justice Department and US Airways shareholders.

AMR will have 60 days to win support among creditors for its reorganization plan. Major creditors were closely involved in negotiations leading to the merger announcement in February, so it seems unlikely that they would derail the plan that will be considered by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane.

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It’s less clear whether antitrust regulators in the Justice Department will impose major conditions on the deal. Regulators approved other big airline mergers — Delta and Northwest, United and Continental, Southwest (LUV) and AirTran — so industry analysts expect them to let this deal pass.

The Justice Department, however, could require the American-US Airways combination to give up takeoff and landing slots at Washington’s busy Reagan National Airport, where it would be the dominant carrier, and possibly slots in New York, too.

The company will be called American Airlines Group Inc. It is expected to operate more than 6,700 flights a day to 336 destinations in 56 countries and have about 100,000 employees. Based on current figures, American will emerge slightly bigger than United Airlines (UAL) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) in the number of miles flown by passengers, the usual standard for ranking carriers.

Parker will be chairman and CEO after Horton steps down as chairman in 2014. Parker would get $19.5 million if he is terminated by the new company for a reason other than misconduct, according to a separate filing

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/16/american-airlines-us-airways-merger/

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Cars Powered by Cheap, Safe Batteries Likely Years Away

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By Reuters

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By Deepa Seetharaman

TROY, Michigan — For nearly two years, a team of former Chevrolet Volt and Toyota Prius engineers has been working on the next big thing in electric cars: the latest version of the 154-year-old lead-acid battery.

Their aim is to build a battery strong enough to power a wider range of vehicles, something they think the current cutting-edge technology — lithium ion — can’t do cheaply, particularly given recent safety scares.

The focus of Energy Power Systems on a technology older than the automobile itself illustrates the difficulty with lithium-ion batteries. While widely used in everything from laptops to electric cars and satellites, a number of high-profile incidents involving smoke and fire have been a reminder of the risks and given them an image problem.

The overheating of the batteries on two of Boeing’s high-tech 787 Dreamliners, which prompted regulators to ground the aircraft, served to underline the concerns and forced the plane maker to redesign the battery system. Indeed, a growing number of engineers now say the lithium-ion battery revolution has stalled, undercut by high costs, technical complexity and safety concerns.

“Smart people have been working on this for 10 years already and no one is close to a new kind of battery,” said Fred Schlachter, a lithium-ion battery expert and retired physicist from the U.S.-funded Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Many experts now believe it will take at least another decade for lithium-ion technology to be ready for widespread adoption in transportation. Others, including Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), believe the solution lies beyond lithium-ion.

Interviews with two dozen battery executives, experts and researchers, including the founder of Securaplane, which made Boeing’s battery charger, reveal an industry in which some are having second thoughts about using lithium-ion, and are instead looking to enhance previous technologies or to leap ahead.

These people say expectations were set too high, too fast. People projected that “clean technology” batteries would shrink in size and weight at the speed of the microchip revolution. That hasn’t happened, and Schlachter says it won’t any time soon. “We’re not going to see a different chemistry, unless we’re very lucky, for decades.”

Just as recent developments in technology have allowed cars to improve their mileage using traditional engines, the lead-acid battery research is aiming for improved power in a smaller package.

Beyond Lithium-Ion

Lithium-ion supporters, including Boeing Co. (BA), Tesla Motors Co. (TSLA) and General Motors Co. (GM), maker of the Volt, say they can make the batteries safe, and problems with new technologies are to be expected.

GM overcame an early problem when a Volt caught fire during tests run by the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, for instance, and after all,

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/16/cheap-safe-battery-power-cars-years-away/

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Airlines' On-Time Performance Slips During Winter Months

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By The Associated Press

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Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ

NEW YORK — Airlines are struggling this year to get planes to the gate on time.

The government said Thursday that 80.3 percent of flights by U.S. carriers arrived on time in January and February. That’s down from a record 84.9 percent during last year’s storm-free winter.

Mother Nature hasn’t been as cooperative. The percent of flights canceled this February doubled to 2.4 percent from 1.2 percent in the same month in 2012.

Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time rating in February at 91.8 percent. Delta Air Lines (DAL) was best among the nation’s five largest airlines, at 86.2 percent. JetBlue Airways (JBLU) was next to last, at 68.8 percent, as a huge snowstorm hit its hubs in Boston and New York.

As for airports, Phoenix had the best on-time departure and arrival rates in February while Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport had the lowest. A flight is still considered on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of its scheduled time.

The worst day to fly appeared to be Feb. 16 when 34 domestic flights at Charlotte, N.C., were severely delayed. Passengers were left aboard planes on the tarmac during a snowstorm for more than three hours. All of the flights were operated by US Airways or one of its regional carriers.

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US Airways (LCC) spokesman Todd Lehmacher said the airline is cooperating fully with the DOT in investigating the delays. It’s also conducting its own internal review. The weather that day was much worse than had been expected. Passengers were issued partial refunds as well as vouchers toward a future flight on US Airways.

The Department of Transportation imposed new restrictions on airlines in April 2010 limiting how long they could keep passengers waiting on the tarmac. Any airline that exceeded the three hour limit could be fined up to $27,500 per passenger — or about $4 million for a typical domestic jet, like the Airbus A320. However, the DOT has yet to levy a fine of that magnitude. There have only been seven fines to date, the largest being $900,000 for an American Eagle flight that was delayed on May 29, 2011.

Airlines also lost more suitcases in February compared to the prior year. Delays and lost luggage are often tied together. There were 3 bags reported mishandled for every 1,000 passengers that flew in February compared to 2.6 last year.

—

Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/airlines-on-time-performance-slips/

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TriMas Corporation Announces First Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call Date

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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TriMas Corporation Announces First Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call Date

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– TriMas Corporation (NAS: TRS) – a diversified global manufacturer of engineered and applied products – announced today that it will host its first quarter earnings conference call on Thursday, April 25, 2013. The conference call will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern Time and will follow the Company’s release of first quarter 2013 earnings results at 8 a.m. that day.

To participate on the earnings conference call, please dial: (888) 503-8169 (Conference ID #1372622) and ask to be connected to the TriMas first quarter 2013 earnings conference call. The conference call will also be simultaneously webcast via TriMas’ website at www.trimascorp.com, under the “Investors” section, with an accompanying slide presentation.

If you are unable to participate during the live teleconference, a replay of the conference call will be available beginning April 25 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time through May 2 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. To access the replay, please dial: (888) 203-1112 (Replay Passcode #1372622) or visit the “Investors” section of the Company’s website.


About TriMas

Headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, TriMas Corporation (NAS: TRS) provides engineered and applied products for growing markets worldwide.TriMas is organized into six reportable segments: Packaging, Energy, Aerospace & Defense, Engineered Components, Cequent Americas and Cequent Asia Pacific. TriMas has approximately 5,500 employees at more than 60 facilities in 17 countries. For more information, visit www.trimascorp.com.

TriMas Corporation
Christine Parker, (248) 631-5438
Communications Specialist
christineparker@trimascorp.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Michigan

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/trimas-corporation-announces-first-quarter-2013-ea/

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Alcoa's First-Quart Profit Rises, Beats Wall Street Expectations

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By The Associated Press

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Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld gives President Barack Obama a tour of the company’s factory in Bettendorf, Iowa, in June 2011. The aluminum manufacturer Monday reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst forecasts.

NEW YORK — Alcoa kicked off earnings season Monday by reporting a larger first-quarter profit than analysts expected, helped by strong demand for aluminum used to make airplanes and automobiles.

The company still sees demand for aluminum growing 7 percent in 2013, with gains cutting across many industries.

Alcoa Inc. (AA) is the first company in the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) to report first-quarter results. Because its products wind up in so many things, from cars and buildings to soda cans, investors study Alcoa’s results for hints about earnings at companies in other industries.

Alcoa said net income in the first quarter was $149 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with $94 million, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, the company said it would have earned 11 cents a share, beating analysts’ forecast of 8 cents a share, according to FactSet.

Revenue fell to $5.83 billion from $6.01 billion a year earlier and was below the $5.91 billion that analysts predicted. Alcoa blamed lower aluminum prices and curtailed production in its European primary metals business.

Over the past decade, Alcoa has shifted more of its business away from mining and refining and into the production of parts for industry. The company is benefiting as airplanes and autos get lighter for better fuel efficiency by using more aluminum parts.

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Airlines have been ordering new planes to reduce their spending on fuel, the largest cost for many of them. That trend should continue for several years, making aerospace a growing aluminum market, chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said in a conference call with analysts.

U.S. auto sales are booming, too, as customers who put off purchases during the recession trade in their aging vehicles. In March, sales hit 1.45 million vehicles, the highest total since August 2007, according to Autodata Corp.

Alcoa believes that government fuel standards and customer demand for better mileage will push car makers to use more lighter materials like aluminum. Some drivers think heavy vehicles are safer in a crash — truck sales were a major factor in the strong March figures — but Kleinfeld argued that lighter cars can brake to a stop faster, potentially avoiding accidents.

Sales of aluminum for nonresidential construction is finally recovering in North America and will grow much faster in China, Kleinfeld said.

Alcoa released its earnings after the markets closed. Its shares rose 15 cents to close at $8.39 in the regular session. They fell 12 cents in after-hours trading.

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Rise in Demand for Aircraft Pushes Factory Orders Up 3% in February

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By The Associated Press

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Matt Rourke/AP Peeps move through the manufacturing process, at the Just Born factory in Bethlehem, Pa., last month. The government reported Tuesday that factory orders increased 3 percent in February, the biggest gain in five months.

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

WASHINGTON — Orders to U.S. factories rose sharply in February from January on a surge in volatile demand for commercial aircraft. The gain offset a drop in key orders that signal business investment.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that factory orders increased 3 percent in February. That’s up from a 1 percent decline in January and the biggest gain in five months.

The increase was due mostly to a jump in orders for commercial aircraft. Those orders rose 95.1 percent. Orders for motor vehicles and parts also increased 1.4 percent.

Orders for all durable goods, which are products expected to last at least three years, jumped 5.6 percent. Orders for nondurable goods, such as processed food and clothing, rose 0.8 percent.

Despite the gains, the report showed that a key measure of business investment plans fell. That could mean that some companies were worried in February about steep federal spending cuts that started on March. 1.

Core capital goods, which include machinery and equipment orders, fell 3.2 percent. Demand for construction machinery, turbines and generators all fell sharply. Orders for computers and electronic products rose slightly.

Economists closely watch these orders because they signal business investment plans.

Still, the decline followed a 6.7 percent surge in January, the largest in nearly three years. Analysts said that when averaging the two months, business investment orders showed a solid increase for the January-March quarter. Many expect the gains to resume this spring, helped by a stronger job market that has kept consumers spending.

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Consumers stepped up spending in February after their income jumped. The gain occurred even after Social Security taxes increased in January, reducing take-home pay for most Americans.

Many economists raised their growth forecasts after the report was released. Some are predicting growth could increase to around 3 percent in the January-March quarter, up from 0.4 percent in the previous three months.

Other data show that some companies may start to pull back because of the government spending cuts.

The Institute for Supply Management reported Monday that U.S. manufacturing activity expanded more slowly in March than February, held back by weaker growth in production and new orders.

But factories did hire at the fastest pace in nine months, which was seen as an encouraging sing ahead of Friday’s report on employment in March.

The economy has added an average of 200,000 jobs a month from November through February, which helped lower the unemployment rate in February to a four-year low of 7.7 percent.

Economists predict a similar level of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Airlines' Merger in Holding Pattern as Judge Weighs Severance

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By The Associated Press

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Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP US Airways Group Chairman and CEO Douglas Parker (left) with American Airlines and AMR Corp., Chairman, President and CEO Thomas Horton at a congressional hearing on March 19. A federal bankruptcy judge signaled his support for the $11 billion merger of the two carriers.

NEW YORK — A federal bankruptcy judge signaled his support for the $11 billion merger of American Airlines and US Airways. But Judge Sean H. Lane deferred giving his official blessing until he could further consider the timing of a severance package for outgoing American CEO Tom Horton.

“The merger is an excellent result. I don’t think anybody disputes that,” Lane said Wednesday during a court hearing. American has been in bankruptcy protection since November 2011.

The companies have proposed paying Horton $20 million in severance. Horton has agreed to step down as CEO and leave the company within a year of the merger’s closing. The U.S. trustee objected to Horton’s severance, saying it is in excess of limits set under the bankruptcy code.

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American tried to get Lane to approve the severance as part of a larger motion to approve the merger. The U.S. trustee accused the airline of trying “to misuse their motion to approve the merger to make an end run around” limits included in the bankruptcy code. American denied that. “This was not something decided upon to line the pockets” of American’s executives, said Stephen Karotkin, a lawyer with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, which represents American.

Lane didn’t object to the actual severance payment but agreed with the trustee that the timing of it seemed to violate prohibitions in the bankruptcy law.

“I am bound by the way Congress drafted the statute,” Lane said, adding that he was worried about setting a bad precedent that lawyers in future cases will try to capitalize upon.

“There are many, many smart lawyers out there,” Lane added. “It’s not hard to imagine.”

Horton spent nearly his entire career at American, becoming CEO when the company filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 29, 2011. Once the deal closes, US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) CEO Doug Parker will run the combined airline. Horton will step down as CEO and then leave the company’s board within a year. The agreement calls for him to receive $19.9 million in cash and stock as well as a lifetime of free first-class tickets on American for himself and his wife.

The trustee didn’t object to the merger or special compensation arrangements that have been proposed for rank and file employees.

The court took a break from 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. to let lawyers work through some of the issues in the case.

Separately, Lane approved a motion to extend American’s exclusive period for filing a reorganization plan until May …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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TriMas Corporation Announces Bolt-On Acquisition in Energy Business

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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TriMas Corporation Announces Bolt-On Acquisition in Energy Business


Company Continues to Expand Global Footprint and Product Portfolio in Europe

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– TriMas Corporation (NAS: TRS) – a diversified global manufacturer of engineered and applied products – announced today its Lamons energy business has expanded its manufacturing capability and product portfolio in Europe with the acquisition of Wulfrun Specialised Fasteners Limited for approximately $9.6 million. The purchase price is subject to a net working capital adjustment as of the closing date. The transaction closed on March 26, 2013.

With operations in the United Kingdom, Wulfrun is a manufacturer and distributer of specialty bolting and CNC machined components for use in critical oil and gas, pipeline and power generation applications. Wulfrun Specialised Fasteners Limited generated approximately $10.0 million in revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2012.

“This new acquisition enhances our capabilities throughout Europe,” said Kurt Allen, president of Lamons. “The ability to provide specialty bolts to new and existing customers through our current network of branches, offer specialty bolts to our distribution customers who currently purchase them elsewhere, plus the ability to supply gaskets to existing Wulfrun customers provides Lamons with additional growth opportunities throughout Europe.”


About TriMas

Headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, TriMas Corporation (NAS: TRS) provides engineered and applied products for growing markets worldwide.TriMas is organized into six reportable segments: Packaging, Energy, Aerospace & Defense, Engineered Components, Cequent Americas and Cequent Asia Pacific. TriMas has approximately 5,500 employees at more than 60 facilities in 17 countries. For more information, visit www.trimascorp.com.


About Lamons

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Lamons is one of the largest gasket, fastener and specialty bolt suppliers in the world, committed to premium quality products and local service. It has major manufacturing, sales and service facilities located throughout the world. Lamons …read more
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SpaceX Capsule Returns Safely From International Space Station

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By The Associated Press

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By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — The SpaceX Dragon capsule returned to Earth on Tuesday with a full science load from the International Space Station.

The privately owned cargo ship splashed down in the Pacific, off the coast of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, five hours after leaving the orbiting lab. The California-based SpaceX confirmed the Dragon’s safe arrival via Twitter.

“Special delivery! Dragon now being recovered in the Pacific,” the company said in a tweet.

The capsule brought back more than 1 ton of science experiments and old station equipment. It’s the only supply ship capable of two-way delivery. NASA is paying SpaceX more than $1 billion for a dozen resupply missions.

The unmanned capsule will be shipped to Los Angeles — arriving Wednesday night — and then trucked to Texas for unloading.

Earlier in the day, astronauts released the unmanned capsule from the end of the space station’s giant robot arm. The 250-mile (400-kilometer)-high parting was a poignant moment for the three space station’s residents, who helped to snare the Dragon three weeks earlier.

“Sad to see the Dragon go,” astronaut Thomas Marshburn told Mission Control. “Performed her job beautifully. Heading back to her lair. Wish her all the best for the splashdown today.”

The Dragon used old-NASA-style parachutes to plop into the ocean; company officials indicated all appeared to go well during the re-entry.

SpaceX launched the capsule from Cape Canaveral at the beginning of March. Mechanical trouble delayed the capsule’s arrival at the space station by a day. SpaceX flight controllers at company headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., managed to fix the problem within hours.

Bad weather at mission’s end in the Pacific recovery zone kept it in orbit an extra day.

Within hours of the splashdown, NASA planned to retrieve the science samples meticulously collected over the weeks and months by space station astronauts, as well as experiments that flew up with Dragon, including hundreds of flowering weeds. Mouse stem cells stayed behind on the space station, at the request of the Japanese researchers.

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Old space station equipment and other items aboard the Dragon will be removed by SpaceX in McGregor, Texas. In all, more than 1 ton of gear — 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms) — was loaded into the capsule.

SpaceX — Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — is run by billionaire Elon Musk, who made his fortune as a co-creator of PayPal. He also owns the electric car maker Tesla Motors.

This was the second flight of a Dragon to the space station under the $1.6 billion contract with NASA, and the third delivery mission altogether for SpaceX. The next flight is slated for late autmn.

A competitor, Orbital Sciences Corp. (ORB) of Virginia, plans a test flight of its Antares rocket and a dummy payload next month. That …read more
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Boeing Says 787 Dreamliner Test Flight 'Goes as Planned'

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By The Associated Press

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Joshua Trujillo/AP/seattlepi.com A Boeing 787 lifts off on Monday from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. It was the first test flight of a 787 since the fleet was grounded because of the risk of fire with the aircraft’s lithium-ion batteries.

SEATTLE — A Boeing 787 with a redesigned battery system made a 2-hour test flight on Monday, and the company said the event “went according to plan.”

The test flight was an important step in Boeing’s plan to convince safety regulators to let airlines resume using the plane, which the company calls the Dreamliner.

Boeing Co. (BA) will analyze information from the flight and prepare for another flight — using the same plane — to demonstrate the 787’s performance to the Federal Aviation Administration, said company spokesman Marc Birtel.

The timing of that demonstration flight has not been set, Birtel said. Boeing hopes to get 787s flying again within weeks, not months, but that decision will be made by aviation regulators in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere. Worldwide, airlines own about 50 Dreamliners.

The fleet has been grounded since January after lithium-ion batteries aboard two planes overheated. The battery on a Japan Airlines 787 caught fire after it landed in Boston, and the battery on an All Nippon Airways jet began smoking during a flight in Japan, forcing an emergency landing.

Boeing added insulation around battery cells and a steel casing on the outside to prevent fires. Company officials have said that they might never know the cause of the smoldering batteries. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Japanese authorities are investigating the incidents.

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The NTSB plans to hold a forum next month in Washington on the use of lithium-ion batteries in transportation. The agency said Monday that the event April 11-12 will focus on design and performance of the batteries and regulation of their manufacturing and use.

For Monday’s test flight, Boeing used a 787 that it built for LOT Polish Airlines. The plane took off about an hour later than planned from Paine Field near Seattle, flew out over the Pacific and down the coast to Oregon before returning to the same airfield.

Birtel, the Boeing spokesman, said the plane’s 6-member crew tested landing gear, electrical and backup systems to show that all of them functioned as designed. The same plane had a similar test flight in January, but that was before the changes to the battery system.

Boeing declined to provide access to the plane or its facilities before or after the flight.

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Boeing 787 Test Flights Possible by Week's End, Sources Say

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By Reuters

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Itsuo Inouye/AP Boeing executive Mike Sinnett shows off a model of newly designed 787 battery during a news conference in Tokyo on March 15.

SEATTLE/WASHINGTON — Boeing plans to conduct two flight tests of its revamped 787 battery system, possibly as soon as the end of the week, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

The 787 flights, the first since February, would mark another step toward Boeing’s recently announced goal of returning the grounded jet to service in a matter of weeks, not months.

Regulators banned the plane from the skies in January after lithium-ion batteries burned on two 787s in quick succession that month. The Federal Aviation Administration gave Boeing Co. (BA) permission for a single “ferry” flight on Feb. 7 to move a jet to Washington state from Texas, carrying minimal crew and no passengers.

Boeing declined to comment.

The FAA on March 12 approved Boeing’s plan to test a redesigned battery system, to prove it is safe. The FAA-approved plan includes a rigorous battery testing standard Boeing helped develop but did not previously use.

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Boeing said last week that it was one-third of the way through the testing, and expected to finish in a week or two. Boeing’s prediction drew scepticism from some regulators and industry experts, who said it was too early to say when the Dreamliner would fly again with the root cause of the battery overheating still unknown.

A senior official at Boeing’s biggest 787 customer, All Nippon Airways, told Reuters this week that the timetable was a best-case scenario and was too uncertain for it use in planning.

The testing regimen set by the FAA requires one flight test. But Boeing plans to conduct two flights: One for its own purposes and a second to gather data to submit for FAA approval, according to the sources, who spoke on condition that they not be named.

The flights could still be delayed by weather or other factors. Flight plans for the events had not yet been filed with the FAA. The flights would depart from and return to Paine Field, an airport adjacent to the factory in Everett, Wash., where the 787 Dreamliner is made.

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Delta in Talks to Buy Jets from Boeing, Airbus, Sources Say

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By Reuters

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Ted S. Warren/AP Workers assemble a next-generation 737 airplane at Boeing Co.’s assembly facility in Renton, Wash.

Delta Air Lines is in talks to purchase small and wide-body jets from Airbus and Boeing in deals potentially worth about $6 billion at list prices, two people familiar with the matter said.

Potential orders involve about 20 each of the planemakers’ most popular families of jets — the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 in the medium-haul, narrow-body class and the Airbus A330 or Boeing 777 in the long-range, wide-body category, the people said.

None of the parties involved agreed to comment.

The sources confirmed a Bloomberg News report that Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) was considering buying planes including 10 to 20 of the A330 or the 777 wide-body aircraft worth $4.3 billion.

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Delta told an investor conference on March 4 that it needed to evaluate its needs for wide-body jets, but played down the possibility of a large order because of recent investments in its relatively young fleet.

The airline said it saw “opportunities in the marketplace” to add selectively to its wide-body fleet and would be talking, for example, to Airbus. Airlines typically engage both major aircraft makers in any discussion to seek the best prices.

Delta already operates all four of the aircraft types involved in the talks at both ends of the spectrum, making it possible for the plane-makers to offer aircraft without having to shoulder the heavy costs of helping the airline switch suppliers.

The talks come on the heels of an exceptionally busy two weeks for aircraft orders as airlines chase fuel savings while trying to grow or replace their fleets. Industry body IATA earlier edged up its forecast for airline profits this year.

On Tuesday, budget Irish airline Ryanair handed Boeing Co. (BA) its largest European order ever, a deal for 175 Boeing 737 jets worth $16 billion at list prices. The deal came a day after Indonesia’s Lion Air on Monday picked European rival Airbus for a $24 billion order.

Lion Air had been an exclusively Boeing customer for jets.

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FedEx Earnings Fall on Fewer Airfreight Shipments

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By The Associated Press

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Wilfredo Lee/AP

By DAVID KOENIG

DALLAS — FedEx said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit fell 31 percent as customers shifted to slower and less-expensive international air-shipping options.

The company says it will cut capacity to and from Asia starting next month and might retire some of its older airplanes. FedEx shares fell more than 3 percent in trading before the opening bell.

FedEx Corp. (FDX) said its net income fell to $361 million, or $1.13 a share, in the three months ended Feb. 28. That’s down from $521 million, or $1.65 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding costs of voluntary buyouts for some U.S. employees, the company says it would have earned $1.23 a share. Revenue rose 4 percent to $11 billion. Analysts were looking for $1.38 a share and revenue of $10.9 billion, according to FactSet.

The company’s fiscal year ends in May. It expects adjusted earnings of between 94 cents to $1.34 a share in its fourth quarter and $6 and $6.20 a share for the year. That is below analyst forecasts of $2.12 and $6.35 a share, respectively.

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Memphis-based FedEx is the world’s second-biggest package-delivery company. It’s seen as a gauge of the overall economy because so many consumers and a range of businesses use its shipping services.

Chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith said the company’s fiscal third quarter, which ended Feb. 28, was “very challenging” due to weakness in the global air freight business and customers picking slower, less-expensive ways to ship packages.

Smith said the company will respond by cutting capacity to Asia and directing less profitable shipments into “lower-cost networks.” He said the company was studying whether the moves will let it retire older, less-efficient planes.

FedEx plans to cut annual costs $1.7 billion by 2016 with buyouts that will reduce its workforce by at least 10 percent by May 2014. The company said Wednesday that it will spend $450 million to $550 million in cash on the buyouts during the fiscal year ending in May, with “some additional costs” in the following 12 months.

FedEx lowered its capital-spending plan for the current year to $3.6 billion from $3.9 billion.

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Boeing Gets Big Boost with Huge Order from Ryanair

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By The Associated Press

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(Ted S. Warren/AP) Workers assemble a next-generation 737 airplane at Boeing’s assembly facility in Renton, Wash.

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

DUBLIN — Ryanair has made the biggest-ever order of Boeing planes by a European airline, announcing Tuesday it will buy 175 aircraft in a major boost for the U.S. aerospace giant.

Neither side disclosed the purchase price for the 737-800s, but budget carrier Ryanair said it did negotiate a bulk discount off the total list price of $15.6 billion. Industry analysts said Ryanair almost certainly was paying less than half price, meaning a total bill below $8 billion, or $45 million per aircraft.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary and the head of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, Ray Conner, signed the agreement Tuesday in New York.

The deal was timed to coincide with Tuesday’s visit by Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to Washington, D.C., to meet President Obama and senior American legislators for St. Patrick’s Day-related events. Kenny plans to visit Seattle and Washington state, the base for Boeing Co. (BA) operations in the Pacific Northwest, later this week.

The move also takes the sting away from Boeing’s loss of a big order on Monday, when Indonesia’s Lion Air gave Boeing rival Airbus an order for more than 200 single-aisle planes.

Ryanair (RYAAY) already operates a fleet of 305 Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft. It is Boeing’s biggest European customer for the model, which launched in 1997 and faces global competition from the Airbus A320. Both are single-aisle aircraft with cabins that typically carry 150 to 200 passengers.

Boeing’s primary 737 assembly line in Renton, Washington, faces a transition to building a newer model called the 737 MAX by 2017. Ryanair’s order represents about a half-year of full-time work for the plant.

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O’Leary said about 75 of the new-order 737s would replace older airplanes, but the fleet would grow to 400 by 2019. He said Ryanair expected its passenger volume to grow around 20 percent to 100 million passengers by 2019, by which time its workforce would expand from 8,500 to around 11,500.

O’Leary has spent years playing hardball with Boeing to secure the best possible price for his next bulk order — and even sowed the seeds Tuesday for his next marathon negotiation, noting that his airline was “continuing to evaluate the benefits of Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft.”

The purchase contract for much of Ryanair’s current Boeing fleet was agreed in the months following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when airlines struggled to place new orders, and later Ryanair regulatory filings in Dublin confirmed that it received a 53 percent discount off Boeing’s list prices. In 2009, O’Leary noisily withdrew from talks to purchase more 737s and hinted that Ryanair might turn to Airbus.

But both sides sang each other’s praises Tuesday.<br …read more
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Airbus Gets Biggest Order Ever from Indonesia's Lion Air

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By The Associated Press

French CEO of European aerospace giant Airbus Fabrice Bregier (C, right) and Lion Air founder and president director Rusdi Kirana (C, left) are applauded by France's President Francois Hollande (C, background), after signing a contract during a ceremony at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris on March 18, 2013. Airbus announced a record order worth 18.4 billion euros ($ 23.8 billion) from Indonesia's Lion Air for 234 medium-haul A320 jets. Lion Air, Indonesia's largest private carrier and one of the world's fastest growing airlines, is a new client for Airbus as it has previously been equipped almost exclusively by US rival Boeing. AFP PHOTO / BERTRAND LANGLOIS (Photo credit should read BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP/Getty Images)

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Bertrand Langlois, AFP/Getty Images French CEO Airbus Fabrice Bregier and Lion Air founder and president director Rusdi Kirana are applauded by France‘s President Francois Hollande. Lion Air, Indonesia‘s largest private carrier and one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, is a new client for Airbus as it has previously been equipped almost exclusively by its archrival Boeing.

By SARAH DiLORENZO and SYLVIE CORBET

PARIS — Airbus signed its biggest deal ever on Monday, an order from Indonesian’s Lion Air worth $24 billion that President Francois Hollande said should inspire the struggling French economy and all of Europe.

The CEOs of both companies signed the contract for 234 planes in a ceremony at the French presidential palace, a sign of its importance to the government. At a time when layoff announcements are streaming out of French companies and unemployment is over 10 percent, Airbus said the manufacturing of the planes would happen in France and would involve 5,000 employees there.

“Airbus is a national and European pride, one of the pillars of our economy,” Hollande told reporters. “The big Airbus contracts are an example for our economy, what it can do, what it must do.”

Lion Air is buying 169 A320s and 65 A321 jets. The first planes will be delivered in 2014 and most of them will be outfitted with a new, more fuel-efficient engine that Airbus has recently developed.

The airline is a major player in the Indonesian market and also gave Boeing (BA) its largest-ever order when it finalized a deal last year for 230 planes from the Chicago airplane manufacturer.

Boeing is the archrival of Airbus, which is the civilian aircraft business of the European aerospace and defense company EADS. Some of the planes Lion Air bought from Boeing are the direct competitors to the aircraft it is buying from Airbus.

But at the Elysee palace Monday, all praise went to Airbus.

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Hollande said the success of Airbus should also inspire European countries to cooperate in other sectors. France, Germany and Spain are all shareholders in EADS and hold significant sway in it.

“Our ambition at the European level isn’t to just continue the great EADS adventure but to also conceive of other EADS for other economic sectors with our European partners,” he said. “Europe isn’t just a market. … Europe is also an industrial ambition.”

The announcement comes as France is trying to convince companies that it is a viable center of manufacturing and persuade them to move or at least keep factory jobs there. The government touts its educated workforce, significant government support for research and sophisticated infrastructure.

But making anything in France is expensive — in large part because the cost of labor, including salaries and benefits, is so high. Also, some companies fear that it’s too hard to fire French workers when …read more
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