SKF has moved the SNFA Charfield bearing plant to SKF UK's existing Stonehouse facility, making it part of the SKF UK Ltd. - Aeroengine and High Precision Bearings Division.
SNFA SAS (Societe Nouvelle de Fabrication Aeronautique; France) was acquired by SKF in mid-2006.
SNFA had three plants: Valenciennes, France; Turin, Italy; and Charfield, UK.
During the acquisition, there had been a great deal of speculation that SNFA's small and aging Charfield plant would be consolidated into Stonehouse, which is only a short distance from Charfield.
Stonehouse itself is a recent addition by SKF, which acquired a majority interest in the plant from NSK Aerospace in 2002 and completed the acquisition in 2005.
The Charfield factory manufactured angular contact ball bearings for high-precision machine tools and specialty applications, in sizes ranging from 60mm bore to 400mm OD. Charfield had 3,000 square meters of production floorspace.
With the asset transfer, SKF said SNFA UK began operating as a part of SKF UK.
SKF said: "The move has enabled us to improve operational areas and process flows, as the new premises has offered us a greater level of flexibility than the previous Charfield site. For example, considerable attention has been paid to environmental issues and sustainability, with, for example, all machines located in bunded trays for safer liquid handling, and energy-saving lighting used throughout the area."
Separately, SKF had asked the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, to continue treating SKF UK and SNFA UK as separate entities for trade and antidumping duty considerations, triggering a "successor-in-interest" analysis.
The ITA has just released its findings, declining the request for separate treatment, "the asset transfer, relocation of SNFA UK's production facilities, and degree of management integration demonstrate that SKF UK is the successor-in-interest to pre-acquisition SNFA UK ... determine that SKF UK and SNFA UK are no longer entitled to separate treatment under the antidumping law."
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