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September 17, 1985 FIN – Rockford Products Corp., Rockford, Illinois, will have a new owner (actually owners) as the result of an agreement in principle signed by Rexnord of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. and an employee group headed by Jack J. Rauh, president of Rockford Products and seven other key managers.

Rexnord, which acquired Rockford Products in 1976, in announcing the agreement in principle, did not say who the other seven key managers were, but FIN believes that the eight are:
Jack J. Rauh, president, 56, who joined Rockford Products in March 1984, succeeding Gerald Broski.
Prior to joining Rockford, Rauh was a group vice president of Monogram Industries and prior to that he was with such fastener companies as SPS Technologies, Parker Kalon, Anchor Fasteners and National Screw.
Bill Naill, vice president of manufacturing.
Denny Schaer, controller.
Richard Giesen, vice president personnel.
Don Chadwick, vice president engineering, who joined from RB&W, where he was corporate director of engineering.
Tom Johnson, 45, vice president sales, marketing and planning, who joined Rockford Products this year from Jackson Consolidated Industries, parent company of W.G. Jackson Screw Co. and Warren Industries. (Tom Johnson, incidentally, is not related to Wayne E. Johnson, general sales manager who has been with the company for about 27 years).
Richard Goff, 36, vice president and general manager of Rockford Packaging, who has been with the company for about 15 years.
Don Baxter, 42, vice president and general manager of Rockford International Division, who has been with the company for about 20 years.
The business and assets of Rockford Products will be purchased for an undisclosed amount and the sale is conditional upon financing and completion of a definitive agreement and is expected to be completed by October 31, 1985.
No purchase price has been announced, but we understand that financing for the purchasing will involve the establishment of an ESOP, some funding from the company’s savings and retirement trust (less than 10% of the trust’s assets), an investment of about $500,000 by the key managers and the issuing of non-voting preferd stock to Rexord.

Here’s what the purchasing group is getting for their money.  Rockford Products is a 56-year-old company with over one million sq ft of plant space (including the Rockford Package Division and Rockford International Division which are in separate but nearby locations). Normally there are around 1,000 employees but there have been some layoffs in recent months.
The company produces fasteners and components from .072 inch through 2.5 inch diameter up to 10-3/4 inch length as well as rod headed parts from 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch diameter and up to 6 feet long.
Some of the non-fastener cold formed components produced are semi-conductor bases, fuel nozzles, valve spring retainers, gears with an integral shaft, caliper pins, turbo charger shafts, shock absorber rings and steering and suspension system components.
In addition to over 1,000 major machines on site, Rockford Products also is a large commercial plater with a rated capacity of over 400,000 lbs per day.
The Rockford International Division, which handles warehousing, plating and packaging of imported fasteners, offers a wide range of fasteners including such standards as grade 2, 5 and 8 cap screws, carriage bolts, lag screws, nuts, sheet metal screws, machine screws, socket products and washers.
The Rockford Package Division markets prepackaged fasteners for the retail and wholesale trade.
Sales of Rockford Products in 1984 was in the neighborhood of $84 million.
The sale of Rockford Products by Rexnord (which is moving out of product areas like fasteners into more high tech products) was not exactly a surprise. There had been rumors that Rexnord had plans to sell the company. This coupled with the recent announcement that about 8% of Rockford’s employees would be laid off sort of put a damper on things around the company. When it was announced that management had signed an agreement in principle to purchase the place (which, we notice, was not characterized as a leverage buyout), we expect that things brightened up a bit. ©1985/2014 Fastener Industry News.

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1985 Rockford Products Restructures

June 10, 1985 FIN – Rockford Products Corporation has recently undergone major restructuring. FIN has learned of changes in the fastener manufacturer’s management team and manufacturing and support facilities:
• Jack Rauh, 56, has been appointed president. Rauh had previously served in various management positions with SPS Technologies, Parker Kalon, Anchor Fasteners, National Screw, Monogram Industries, and Nortek (including Chandler Products, Ohio Rod Products and Cornell Manufacturing Company). He joined the company in 1984.
• Don Chadwick, 55, has been appointed vice president-engineering. Chadwick will head up their new Rockford Products engineering team. He previously held various engineering position at RB&W for the past 15 years, where he was most recently director of corporate engineering. He has a total of 25 years industry experience.
• Al Provenzano has recently been appointed manager of product engineering, a newly created position. Provenzano’s background in engineered fastener’s and fastening systems includes 15 years at Camcar, Lamson & Sessions & RB&W.
• Steve Fulton has joined the company’s new engineering team as an applications engineer. Fulton was previously associated with Camcar in various engineering capacities.
• Tom Johnson, 45, has been named vice president sales/ marketing and planning. Prior to his appointment, Johnson was president and chief operating officer for Jackson Consolidated Industries, parent firm of W.G. Jackson Screw Company and Warren Industries.
• Additionally, Wayne E. Johnson has been promoted to general sales manager. Johnson has been with the company for 27 years and was most recently manager of their Detroit sales office,
The company has also undergone management changes at their Rockford Packaged Division, a division which markets prepackaged fasteners. Richard Goff, 36, has been appointed vice president-general manager. Goff joined the company 15 years ago.
Additionally, Don Baxter, 42, has been appointed vice president-general manager of Rockford International Division, a division which handles warehousing, plating and packaging fasteners. Baxter has held various management positions with Rockford for the past 20 years.
The 56-year-old company has also recently completed a $5 million expansion program. They’ve added National 1500, 1000, and 750 parts formers; and threaded rolling and automatic drilling equipment; batch-type and induction heat treating; and eddy current testing devices. These additions provide the company with a .072 to 1.5″ wire size capabilities range. The equipment is housed in a new 35,000 sq. ft. facility.
Rockford officials say that to their knowledge this is the first attempt in the cold heading industry to develop a cold heading flexible manufacturing system of this magnitude.
The company, a Rexnord subsidiary is a producer of cap and set screws, machine screws and other special threaded fasteners. It is located at 707 Harrison Avenue, Rockford, IL 61108 Tel: (815) 397-6000©1985/2011 Fastener Industry News
For information on permission to reuse or reprint this article please e-mail: FIN@GlobalFastenerNews.com