News
PRESTOLITE ELECTRIC (LEECE NEVILLE) EMPLOYEE NAMED TO PASCHALL TRUCK LINES INC (PTL) MAINTENANCE VENDOR HALL OF FAME FOR 2011
 Mike Davis, Senior Technical Service Representative for Prestolite Electric (Leece Neville) received an award and recognition from Paschall Truck Lines Inc. (PTL). He was named to PTL’s Maintenance Vendor Hall of Fame for 2011; consistently demonstrating traits of professionalism, technical expertise and continual support of PTL’s quest for excellence.
Working closely with PTL service technicians, Mike worked diligently to solve issues specific to the charging system, but not related to the heavy duty, high amperage alternators manufactured by Prestolite Electric (Leece Neville) and specified on the PTL Navistar Class 8 trucks. |
PRESTOLITE ELECTRIC (LEECE NEVILLE) RECEIVES GOLD SUPPLIER AWARD FROM DAIMLER CORPORATION’S THOMAS BUILT BUS DIVISION
 Thomas Built Bus awarded Prestolite Electric (Leece Neville) the Gold Award at the Thomas Built Bus Supplier Conference which took place in Greensboro, NC on September 12-14 2011. Prestolite was one of fifteen suppliers to earn this honor out of the top 100 suppliers.
The categories scored were: warranty, purchasing, quality and logistics. Prestolite (Leece Neville) performed outstanding in all the categories, joining the other chosen suppliers supporting Thomas Bus’s manufacturing goals. Prestolite (Leece Neville) was also one of four finalists in the Supplier of the Year. Thomas Built Bus is one of North America's leading bus manufacturers, a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler company and the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America. As always please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments. |
Newsletter Subscribe
Thank you for subscribing!
You have successfully been added to our subscription list. The following are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding our newsletter subscriptions:
What am I going to get?
Our email marketing is permission-based and we will only send you information relevant to what you signed up for.
How can I unsubscribe?You can click the link at the bottom of any email we send to instantly and securely unsubscribe. Or, you can simply send an email to info@prestolite.com with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line and we will remove you from all future email communications.
How can I ensure your email gets to me?You can help us reach your inbox every time by taking a few seconds right now to add 'info@prestolite.com' to your contacts or safe sender list.
Is my information secure?We value your privacy and use a variety of security measures to protect your personal information. You can help us make your information secure by using a strong password for your account.
Newsletter Unsubscribe
We're sorry to see you go!
You have been removed from the newsletter distribution list. You can re-subscribe at anytime by following these simple steps:
- Select 'My Account'
- Select 'Edit'
- Scroll to 'Current newsletter subscriptions'
- Select newsletter to subscribe to
Thank you!
Prestolite News
Prestolite / Leece-Neville Buyers Guide 2011 now available for download!
 An updated 2011 version of our popular Buyers Guide is now available for download. The new version features additional information about the M105 starter motor and the AVI160 series of alternators.
One of the improved features of the guide is a reference showing all available clocking positions for each of the Titan 105 and Titan 125 starter motors (see page 45). As always please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments. |
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS of MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE: ONE VOICE, ONE FAMILY, ONE COMPANY
 Prestolite Electric (Leece-Neville) is celebrating 100 years of manufacturing in the USA. Founded in 1911 as Electric Autolite, the company produced generators to power early day auto lamps. First OE customers were Studebaker, Packard and Indiana Buggy Works.
From the early 1920's through the 1960's the company had such firsts as: Low Maintenance Batteries, Resistor Spark Plugs, Solid State Ignition Systems and a Fully Submersible Ignition. The product range was expanded to include Starting Motors, Regulators, Wire and Cable Products. Over the years following, a strategy was evolving to position Prestolite Electric (Leece-Neville) into a global manufacturer of starters and alternators. The 80's saw the acquisition of the Leece-Neville Sheller Corp. and Butec Limited, Leyland, England. In 1998 the Company added Lucas, expanding the manufacturing footprint to Argentina and South Africa. That same year the alternator division of Motorola, located in Arcade, New York was acquired. The latest center of excellence was formed in 2000: the joint venture in Beijing, China forming Prestolite Electric Beijing Limited. Prestolite Electric's (Leece-Neville) Arcade facility, located in New York, is the last remaining high-volume manufacturer of starters and alternators located in the USA. "We are here for the long-term, supporting our military and our regional and multi-national customers. We are a key part of the strategies our customers have shared with us." said Tony Wong, Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Quality. "One Voice, One Family, One Company" is our motto. Whether it is our manufacturing locations in the USA, China, Argentina or the UK, Prestolite strives to exceed our customer’s expectations. The silos we operated in are a thing of the past. We are truly a global organization, with the benefits passing through to our customers." added Joe Lefave, President and CEO of Prestolite Electric Inc. |
Prestolite Leece-Neville North America Investing in the Future with It's Realignment Plan
 Prestolite Leece-Neville is undergoing major improvements in it's North American Division which are designed to launch the division to becoming an even stronger OE manufacturing facility. “Due to customer inputs and suggestions, we were able to identify key areas where we could make a much more positive impact,” said Tony Wong, Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Quality.
“We restructured North America into one Team,” says Tony, “with new leadership in our Arcade manufacturing facility.” Prestolite Leece-Neville’s production teams have always had a good reputation with customers for their efforts and experience, and with a new IDEA (Improved Development with Employee Assistance) program their suggestions have led to countless improvements in quality, production flow, safety and cost savings. To optimize sub-assembly process flow the Kanban material system has been implemented, resulting in better process flow and raw material allocations. The entire facility is receiving an internal face-lift, with emphasis on cleaner, safer and more efficient assembly areas. SPC has become the driving force for quality throughout the plant and the Continuous Improvement efforts have kicked into a higher gear. “There has been investment in new gauging and testing technologies” added Tony, “and a considerable amount of new equipment implementation to improve our present capabilities.” There’s even the addition of the Project Room for the disciplined project management teams. “We’re making major strides towards a best in class company that can truly respond to our customer’s growing needs.” |
New Product Announcement: M105R Starter Motor
 We are pleased to announce the launch of a new model of the M105R starter motor. The M105602 is designed to fit International DT466, 530,570, Maxxforce DT9/10 engines. Cummins ISC and ISL, as well as, Caterpillar 3208 power plants. See the attached flyer for more details.
|
Joseph Lefave New Prestolite President and CEO - 8 June 2009
 We are pleased to announce that Joseph Lefave has joined Prestolite Electric as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Joe has an impressive track record acquired over 20 years in operations and general management positions worldwide. Prior to joining the team at Prestolite, Joe was President and CEO of Precision Parts International, a leading supplier of fineblanked and conventionally stamped components for automotive and industrial applications. Joe has also held leadership positions with Magna, Volkswagen, and GM. You can read more about this by downloading the official announcement below. |
Showing private branded product details on our product detail webpages
 As a supplier to a wide variety of OEM's (Original Equipment Manufacturers), it is not unusual for us to provide products to them under their private brand or using a private label. Typically under such an agreement any aftermarket sales would go through the service (OES) channel for that particular OEM.
OK, in plain English, let's say that you have a heavy duty tractor that needs a new alternator. You get the number off the unit, do a quick Google search and find that we are the original manufacturer. You contact one of our distributors, only to have us tell them that we can't sell them the part, and that you'll need to contact a dealership or service center that is an authorized representative for that original OEM in order to get a replacement. This has been more than a little frustrating to consumers and distributors alike. Not so much because they need to go through the OES channel, but that we didn't show that initially. There's nothing worse than someone showing you a product on a website and then telling you that you can't have it. So here's what we're going to do to fix that. |
The first problem here is that we haven't been showing the private brand detail on our specification pages for those products on our website. To address this we are now flagging those items that are labeled 'Private Brand' within our systems, and showing that information on the detail sheet on the website:
So, now you may be wondering, if it's a private branded unit why do we have to contact you, why can't you just tell us where to get it? The first thing to realize is that we have varying degrees of private branding. Two quick examples:
- A customer wants us to place their product number on the label of a product that we already manufacture, to make it easier for them to utilize the product through their systems. There are no contractual agreements, it's just a special label that has their part number on it.
- Another customer wants us to make something completely unique for them, and agrees to invest in tooling so that we can manufacture that product. Our engineers work with their engineers to create a unique product, that we agree to sell only to them. This company has a substantial investment in getting this product to market, and wants to make sure that they are the only ones that will have access to it.
The way we track these two different scenarios within our systems makes it difficult to give a generic answer that will always be correct for all cases. We have added additional functionality to those systems to address this, and we are working to show that information to you on the website.
Soon we will be able to show which customer the product was originally private labeled for, and in those cases where there are generic aftermarket products available for the private labeled product we will show them and create links to their information.
