Saturday, May 28, 2005
Trim Trends files Ch. 11, blames high steel costs
Crain's Detroit Business
The Chapter 11 machine has claimed another auto supplier, this one because of high raw-material costs.
Trim Trends Co. L.L.C., a Farmington Hills-based supplier of metal automotive structures and decorative trim, also was a major creditor of Tower Automotive Inc. Tower filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
But Trim Trends was able to get on Tower?s critical vendors list, which softened that blow. What really hurt the company was its inability to recover steel prices that more than doubled in the past year.
Trim Trends sells components to tier-one suppliers such as Tower, and directly to automakers. Neither is willing to accept higher prices because of steel. That means companies such as Trim Trends often lose money on parts where prices were set before steel prices spiked.
The Chapter 11 machine has claimed another auto supplier, this one because of high raw-material costs.
Trim Trends Co. L.L.C., a Farmington Hills-based supplier of metal automotive structures and decorative trim, also was a major creditor of Tower Automotive Inc. Tower filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
But Trim Trends was able to get on Tower?s critical vendors list, which softened that blow. What really hurt the company was its inability to recover steel prices that more than doubled in the past year.
Trim Trends sells components to tier-one suppliers such as Tower, and directly to automakers. Neither is willing to accept higher prices because of steel. That means companies such as Trim Trends often lose money on parts where prices were set before steel prices spiked.
