Displaying items tagged: Johnson Controls Inc

HOLLAND — An equity investment from United Airlines Ventures could allow a startup advanced battery company to ramp up production in Holland via a partnership with automotive battery supplier Clarios International Inc. 

As a transformational merger between two office furniture giants heads for final approval, the details of their seven-month courtship offer insight into a deal that could change the industry’s landscape.

CASCADE TOWNSHIP — Automotive supplier Yanfeng US Automotive Interior Systems has entered into an agreement to sell the company’s Grand Rapids-area operations to a new automotive-focused private equity firm, MiBiz has learned. 

HOLLAND — Reports this month that LG Chem plans to build a second U.S. lithium-ion battery plant underscore how much the automotive industry has evolved in the six years since the company started making advanced batteries in West Michigan.

Johnson Controls International plc is reviewing whether it should sell or spin off its battery division to focus on its main HVAC and building electronics business, company officials said this week.

DETROIT — The push to offer autonomous driving, innovate new mobility options and differentiate models with new technology has upended many parts of the automotive industry.

HOLLAND — While many producers of advanced electrical systems have their sights set on electric vehicles, one West Michigan manufacturer is pursuing a more underserved sector.

The automotive industry has been very good for West Michigan, in spite of the challenges that it has dished up for component suppliers over the last several decades. 

Editor’s note: After more than 13 years of writing the Auto Focus column for MiBiz, Melissa Anderson plans to retire as a columnist, effective immediately, as she winds down her storied career in automotive analysis and research. In the short term, she and her husband plan to travel in the Southern Hemisphere. “I have enjoyed writing the column and it has been a good long run,” Anderson said. Anderson’s business intelligence on the automotive industry will be missed. “Melissa was our ideal business columnist because she was able to talk with a lot of knowledge about trends in the global automotive industry while also providing a lot of local context, examples and data,” said MiBiz Publisher Brian Edwards. MiBiz will continue its search for a new automotive/manufacturing columnist throughout the coming months.

As automakers have invested in high-profile technologies and lightweighting, they’ve also started to pay more attention to the place in their vehicles where drivers spend the most time: the interiors. 

Lower fuel prices may have shifted consumers’ buying habits toward trucks and SUVs, but most automotive suppliers believe electric vehicle technology is here to stay. 

While Robert Haveman served as a trusted financial executive for the former Holland-based auto supplier Prince Corp., he appears to have made poor choices when it came to his own personal finances.

LANSING — A Mid Michigan nanotechnology company seeks to raise $24 million through an initial public offering to fund operations as it continues to commercialize composite materials for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and other uses.