Carlex Glass America acquires Zeledyne plant, auto glass aftermarket distribution business

Carlex Glass America, Vonore, Tenn.,has completed the acquisition of a float glass manufacturing and automotive windshield fabricating plant in Nashville and an automotive replacement glass distribution business in Lebanon, Tenn.,from Zeledyne, according to an April 1 release. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquired operations join Carlex Glass Co., which produces automotive glass for original-equipment and replacement applications in Vonore, as subsidiaries of Central Glass Co., based in Japan. Carlex Glass America and Carlex Glass Co. will be known in the market as Carlex.

The purchase significantly expands Carlex’s automotive glass business, especially the aftermarket sector, and adds ability to manufacture automotive-quality flat glass, according to Masami Wakatsuki, president of Carlex Glass America president.

“Adding the Nashville facility and the automotive replacement glass distribution operations to Carlex’s business expands our market and customer base and enhances our customer service, while affording strategic synergies with our established Tennessee operations,” Wakatsuki said in the release.

With the acquisition, Carlex becomes the sole U.S. distributor of Carlite brand automotive replacement glass.

The combined Carlex operations in Tennessee have more than 1,000 employees, including some former Zeledyne administrative and executive management employees from Allen Park, Mich., who are relocating to Nashville and Lebanon, Wakatsuki said in the release. He said Carlex plans to maintain an automotive technical center in the Detroit area.

Carlex and Local 737 of the United Auto Workers union have ratified a largely unchanged collective bargaining agreement representing workers at the Nashville and Lebanon sites, Wakatsuki said. UAW Local 2314 represents Carlex workers in Vonore.