News

Posted On: 09/07/2006

Cooper Tire contracts maintenance to ABB

PlantServices.com

ABB has announced it will manage maintenance operations at Cooper Tire and Rubber Company’s Albany, Ga. plant.

The five-year, full-service agreement is the first of its type for ABB in the North American automotive industry. The contract complements more than 125 ABB Full Service relationships with customers in the paper, metals, mining, chemicals, oil and gas, and telecommunications industries worldwide.

“This service agreement is one of various strategic initiatives within Cooper Tire to improve manufacturing efficiency, product and customer mix and market share,” said Scott Jamieson, vice president of manufacturing for Cooper Tire. “By entrusting plant maintenance operations to an established partner such as ABB, we can better focus on our core competence of manufacturing and marketing high-quality tires at competitive costs.”

“The ABB Full Service concept helps turn maintenance departments into profit centers,” said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABB's Process Automation division. “By bringing proven best practices to the full spectrum of plant maintenance activities, we add new value to our customers' bottom line while they focus on their core business.”

Under the agreement, ABB will assume some 100 maintenance employees and responsibility for all maintenance-related activities and equipment at the plant, and will manage the operations to contractually-agreed targets for plant performance. ABB Full Service agreements typically improve productivity and equipment availability while reducing maintenance costs for customers by as much as 20%.

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