The Mail-Journal, Volume 27, Number 1, Milford, Kosciusko County, 17 February 1988 — Page 60

PROGRESS EDITION — Wed., February 17,1988

DANA CORPORATION SPICER AXLE DIVISION SYRACUSE I II 1 "■ . ■■" ■■■■ < 11 1 1 ••. v<vii lift v i 11 xw vWIwW x'A xiUKJ M vtrWl s tKjjwßMfap FBI ****** k ■ • -.a i • -m. Manufacturer Os Axle Components "Growing To Serve Our Community And Our Nation" $

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Dana Corp, is keeping up with today's world

Dana Corporation, with a plant in Syracuse, is the world’s largest producer of propriety original equipment motor vehicular components and serves vehicular, service and industrial markets through 397 facilities in North America and 22 foreign countries. Corporate offices are located in Toledo, Ohio. The Syracuse plant is part of the Spicer Axle Division of Dana Corporation and makes axle components primarily for Fort Wayne Axle Plant, Jeep Eagle and General Motors. The Syracuse plant employs 575 workers. In 1980 Dana added manufacturing floor space in a $4.2 million expansion project. Today the once used railroad siding is also being used as manufacturing space. About 60 percent of the Syracuse plant’s business goes to its sister plant in Fort Wayne and to Dana plants in North Carolina and Hilliard, Ohio. With 40 percent of its business going to outside businesses, including General Motors, Jeep, Eagle, and Navistar. Plant manager Richard Rice stated, “Dana Corporation’s biggest gain has been in the auto related areas and financial services, including Dana Commercial Credit Corporation and Diamond Savings and Loan. Those Dana divisions producing axles, oil and air filters, frames and those connected to light truck production have been improving the fastest - The Syracuse plant takes great pride in its use of the Scanlon Plan, a plan devised in 1930 by a labor leader named Scanlon who became involved with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The plan offers all employees bonuses when sales improve in

Pacific Molasses provides a quality product for customers

Pacific Molasses Company has been in operation at its Syracuse plant for over 12 year, having purchased the plant south of the B & 0 Railroad which has been in existence about 32 years. “Our first job is to provide quality products to our customers,” stated Terry Watts, plant manager. “Our responsibilities beyond that include providing jobs for area workers and continuing to be a good citizen company in the community.” With molasses being the main ingredient, this company, which has 51 employees, makes about 1,000 tons of feed blocks and 600 tons of bagged feed a week. The company now supplies feed blocks, dried molasses and bagged mineral feed supplements to manufacturers across the United States. The busiest time of the year is between the the period from November through April. In this busy period the company operates 24 hours a day, six days a

Syracuse ready for two-year sewer line transition period

The year 1987 can be recorded as the year when the sewer improvement project which has taken so much time and effort by Syracuse Town Board members and Joe Dock, utilities superintendent, finally “got off the ground.” This is because Syracuse was, with diligent effort and tenacity, able to convince the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the State of Indiana that funding should be approved for this local project. (In February, 1966, Syracuse was 12th in line for funding consideration.) The Community Improvement Project (CIP) grant for $400,000 was approved last fall and engineering planning on the project continued. A pre-bid conference was held on February 3, 1988, and bids will be opened on February 29. Dock pointed out that this spring will be the beginning of a two-year transition period in which sewer line construction projects will be in progress in many areas of Syracuse. The paybacks to the town for all the effort put in on the sewer project, according to Dock, are that the town will be able to prevent basement flooding related to sewer line problems; it will be able to meet its water quality of effluent criteria; and treatment plant capacity will finally be in place and available to serve growth users . The increased capacity planned is being built to handle growth for the next 20 years.

relationship to dollars spent on labor costs. The company is also very proud of the civic responsibility which has been shown within the Syracuse community and the am aunt of economic input the company has been responsible for to the area in the form of payroll, taxes and the use of local vendors. /■r z* Plant manager Richard Rice feels it is mandatory to develop high tech operations equal to those of other nations to remain a competitive force in the industry. In 1988 and the years to follow new high tech equipment for manufacturing will be added to the Syracuse plant. This will involve computer controlled manufacturing and eventually robotics. New innovations at the Spicer Axle Division plant are numerous. One currently in use is the Cad-Cam, a computer aided design system. Dana’s manufacturing employees with the aid of the management staff are working effectively as a team. The plant staff includes Dick Rice, plant manager; Jon Bieck, controller; John Hickey, area manager; Roger Grothaus, area manager; Ernie Perry, facilities engineer; and Bill Sane ers, human resources manager.

week. During the past two years, everyone has been working hard to get the plant up to its top production capabilities. Ths company’s ingredients are received by rail and truck and its products are delivered around the country by contract trucking firms. Although cattle feed is by far the highest volume, the plant’s feeds are also used for sheep and horses. The Syracuse operation is part of the Pacific Molasses Midwest Region, which has offices in Chicago. Corporate headquarters for the firm are in San Francisco. Pacific also has a plant in Bremen which has teen extensively upgraded in the past two years. “It’s a good plant which turns out a gooi product,” Watts said. “W e’re always looking for ways to get better in our business,” stated Watts. “We hope we’re making a solid contribution to the agric ultural economy as well as relating well to the community.”

The superintendent said this capacity includes the volumes from hook-on to the system by the Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District from its project to build sewer lines in areas on the north side of Wawasee Lake as well as from the existing industrial park, which is as yet undeveloped. Syracuse Town Board President James Hughes stated in his “State of the Town” article in the January 13 issue of The MailJournc l that in addition to the major sewer progress in 1987, “Other good things happened in our town in 1987, too! ” He continued, “The Syracuse Park Board is in the process of finalizing a five-year plan w iich will enable us to upgrade and improve the parks of Syracuse.” “Turkey Creek Township and Syracuse purchased a new ambulance which provides better and more equipment to meet the needs ci this community.” “Under the careful guidance of board member Carl Myrick and Town Marshal Bob Ziller, a new police garage was constructed to house police cars and store recovered stolen items. ’’ “We ook forward to another banner year in 1968.” The just completed Syracuse-Wawasee Winter Carnival provided area residents and visitors a chance to enjoy exciting outdoor activities.