Doug Fozo has been named operations manager for South Bend Gear, a new joint venture of Schafer Gear Works, Inc., and Somaschini S.p.A. of Italy. South Bend Gear will produce gears for engines for the heavy-duty truck market in North America. A new 50,000 square-foot plant is currently under construction on the Schafer Gear campus on Nimtz Parkway in South Bend, Indiana. Production is scheduled to begin in late 2011 at 50 percent capacity and will reach 100 percent production capacity by the end of 2012.
Fozo has been with Schafer Gear since 1993 and has held various management positions in both production and quality assurance, most recently serving as project manager. “Doug has shown us the extent of his capabilities over the past 18 years,” says Bipin Doshi, president of Schafer Gear. “We are very excited for him to assume this leadership role at South Bend Gear.”
The new plant will employ 12 people in phase one and an additional 13 people, for a total of 25 people when fully operational. The total joint venture investment is $18 million, including the new manufacturing facility. The plant will utilize the process technology developed by Somaschini S.p.A. in Italy with Schafer Gear managing the operations.
Somaschini has been supplying gears for the heavy-duty truck market to a number of customers including the Daimler Group since 1992. South Bend Gear will produce gears for Detroit Diesel’s DD13, DD15, and DD16 series engines. Somaschini will continue to meet the increased demands for the European and the Japanese markets.
Established in 1934, Schafer Gear Works has been under its present ownership since 1988. The gear manufacturer is a diversified supplier to a variety of markets in North America including leisure vehicles, material handling, mining, power transmission, construction, locomotive, aircraft, and medical, as well as automotive and heavy-duty truck markets. Schafer Gear Works operates three production facilities. The company’s Rockford, Illinois, plant produces larger gears for heavy applications, the South Bend location produces higher volume gears for a variety of industrial applications, and the Fort Wayne, Indiana, facility concentrates on high-precision fine-pitch gears for aircraft and medical application. Lean more by visiting [www.schafergear.com] and [www.somaschini.com].
