Citation Corporation

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The Citation Corporation (formerly Jones Foundry Company and Southern Ductile Casting) is a privately-owned producer of cast, machined and assembled parts for automotive, truck and industrial markets. The 2,700-employee company designs, tests, and manufactures parts from aluminum and gray and ductile iron. Until 2008 its headquarters were located at 2700 Corporate Drive in Birmingham. The CEO is Douglas Grimm.

T. Morris Hackney, founder of the Hackney Corporation, purchased the Jones Foundry in Bessemer in 1974 and changed the name to Southern Ductile Casting four years later. In 1980 he acquired the Foundry Service Company of Biscoe, North Carolina and, in 1982, he bought Birmingham's Dixie Type and Supply as an investment. At that time he formed the Citation Carolina Corporation as a holding company. The name was taken from Carolina Avenue, site of the Jones Foundry and Citation Court, where Dixie Type was located.

In 1984 Hackney added Columbiana's Simsco, along with its foundries in Centreville and Selma. Three years later he bought ADICO in Brewton, renaming it Alabama Ductile Casting. In 1989 the Texas Foundries Company was added to the growing company, which surpassed $100 million in sales for the first time in 1990.

In 1991 the name of the company was changed to the Citation Corporation and a new manufacturing division, specializing in lost-foam casting, was created under the Southern Ductile Casting name with operations at Bessemer, Centreville and Selma. The company offered 4.3 million shares to the public in August 1994, trading as CAST on the NASDAQ exchange. With $31.1 million in newly-raised capital, Citation embarked on an unprecedented acquisition campaign, adding manufacturing facilities across the United States which buttressed its core capabilities. A second offering in 1995 provided additional capital for expansion.

In 1998 Hackney retired as CEO and recommended that F. F. Sommer take over the position, which was approved by the Board. In 1999 Citation's outstanding stock was purchased by the RSJ Acquisition Co., an affiliate of Kelso & Company and ceased to be publicly traded. Ed Buker became the CEO in March 2002, relocating to Birmingham from Detroit.

In September 2004 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the price of input commodities climbed and orders declined.

In 2008 the company relocated its corporate headquarters to Novi, Michigan for closer access to its core customers. The company's engineering, purchasing, marketing and sales departments were already based in Michigan. The company will maintain a satellite professional office in Birmingham.

Acquisitions

  • 1974: Jones Foundry Company (Bessemer, Alabama)
  • 1980: Foundry Service Company (Biscoe, North Carolina)
  • 1982: Dixie Type and Supply (Birmingham, Alabama)
  • 1984: Simsco, Inc. (Columbiana, Alabama)
  • 1987: ADICO (Brewton, Alabama)
  • 1989: Texas Foundries Company (Lufkin, Texas)
  • 1993: Mabry Foundry Company (Beaumont, Texas)
  • 1995: Iroquois Foundry Corporation (Browntown, Wisconsin)
Berlin Foundry Corporations (Berlin, Wisconsin)
Castwell Products Corporation (Skokie, Illinois)
Pennsylvania Steel (Hamburg, Pennsylvania)
  • 1996: Hi-Tech Corporation (Albion, Indiana)
Southern Aluminum Casting Company (Bay Minette, Alabama)
Bohn Aluminum (Butler, Indiana)
Interstate Forging Industries (Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Navasota, Texas)
  • 1997: Camden Casting Company (Camden, Tennessee)
  • 1998: DyCast Inc. (Zurich, Illinois)
AmCast Precision (Rancho Cucamonga, California)
Custom Products (Menomonee Falls and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin)
CT-South (Marion, Alabama)
  • 2001: ITM Corporation (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

References

  • Sloan, Barbara (Winter 2003) "Citation Corp. Goes Back to the Future" Partners. Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.
  • "Citation moves its HQ out of state." (March 15, 2008) Birmingham News

External links