Crossville Manufacturer Delbar Becomes Ficosa

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Story Published: May 13, 2008 at 6:25 PM CST

Story Updated: May 16, 2008 at 11:16 PM CST

In recent acquisition, Ficosa purchased Delbar Products, Inc., a Crossville, TN manufacturer of rear view mirror systems for the automotive industry.

With three factories in the Crossville area, Delbar is one of Crossville’s largest employers.

Delbar was made available for a managed sale following the death late last year of founder Ben Gerhart in Pennsylvania, where the company was headquartered.

Ficosa is based in Spain with global holdings. Ficosa representatives have said that it was Delbar’s reputation as a quality supplier in the automotive industry that attracted them to the purchase.

While no plans have been formally announced, there is a great deal of speculation that Ficosa will continue to consider movement of product from the Delbar de Mexico facility to the Tennessee facility, yielding a potential increase in jobs.

Key to the job movement initiative appears to be the ability to continue productive trends, lean manufacturing and continuous improvement in a union free environment.

According to information presented by Delbar representatives at last year’s Upper Cumberland Employer’s Association conference at TTU, Delbar had already moved two production lines back from it’s operation in Mexico, because they were able to create a cost improvement in the move.

Delbar has been a leader among automotive suppliers utilizing Lean Manufacturing concepts, and the improvements appear to be paying off in business opportunities, even when competing directly with Mexico and the labor cost differentials.

Delbar Products is in transition and is operating under the Ficosa name. The official transaction occurred April 15, 2008.

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