Michigan-based specialist automotive die manufacturer Autodie (above) is set to complete an unexpected return to the Fiat fold just three years after the Italian carmaker sold the unit to Mercedes-Benz' MBtech engineering division.

Michigan-based specialist automotive die manufacturer Autodie is set to complete an unexpected return to the Fiat fold just three years after the Italian carmaker sold the unit to Mercedes-Benz' MBtech engineering division.

Just weeks before the Chrysler restructuring plan was sealed on April 30 MBtech transferred Autodie to Chrysler so it would be included in the assets that would for part of the new company that is emerging from the ashes of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. The news that Autodie, which employs 250 staff, would become part of the revitalised Chrysler, which initially sees Fiat holding a 20 percent stake, was revealed last week. "Chrysler has been an Autodie customer for many years," Warren Miller, a Chrysler vice president announced. "Autodie has been a key supplier to the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and we are pleased to complete this agreement with Daimler."

The tool and die specialist, which is based at 44 Coldbrook Ave. NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has many years of valuable knowledge and experience in building dies producing aluminium, high-strength steels (HSS), advanced high-strength steels (AHSS), parts. Well regarded for its R&D abilities the dies it manufactures are used to produce state-of-the-art panels include body sides, doors, door rings, hoods, box sides, cowl sides, A-pillars, B-pillars, reinforcements, rails, sills, crossmembers, and tailor welded blanks made out of different materials. Amongst the features in Autodie's 500,000 sq foot facility are 31 Tryout presses (19 180” or larger) 65 Cranes (50 tons throughout entire facility with maximum capacity of 80 tons); 28 CNC milling machines (e.g. 4 5-axis machines); 2 Double head CMMs; 1 Atos white light scanner; one of the largest clearing presses in North America; 20 Mechanical crank presses; 5 hydraulic presses; and 6 toggle presses.

Fiat bought Autodie in 1999. Then the company which had grown rapidly from its birth in 1962 had overextended itself and had recently emerged from restructuring. Autodie was absorbed into the Fiat Group's Comau division which manufacture's all aspects of automotive production line equipment and components. In 2006 however as Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne divested the Group of non-core business to raise money to help relaunch the automotive division and restore it to profits, Autodie was sold by Comau Pico to Mercedes-Benz's global automotive engineering and consulting service provider, MBtech for 21 million euros with the deal closing on November 10, 2006. "The company will operate under the name MBtech Autodie LLC," said MBTech in a statement at the time. "MBtech Autodie will continue to specialize in die manufacturing for automotive applications. With this acquisition, the MBtech Group consequently expands its current product portfolio further along the automotive value chain. MBtech Autodie will continue its work with U.S. carmakers as well as seeking additional OEM and Tier One customers in North America. By acquiring Autodie MBtech Group increases its North American Revenue to 20 percent," the MBTech statement concluded.

By the end of last month MBtech Autodie LLC was owed US$13.5 million by Chrysler, placing it fourteenth in the list of Chrysler's unsecured trade creditors. The largest f the unsecured creditor was Ohio Module Manufacturing Co. LLC in Toledo which was owed US$70.4 million with BBDO Detroit Inc. in Troy second at US$58 million. Autodie's transfer part of a complex deal with Daimler AG which still owned a 19.9 percent stake in Chrysler LLC at the time that Chapter 11 was entered on April 30.