Gibbs in the News
Monday, June 19, 2006
Sparks will be responsible for full profit and loss. He will oversee all manufacturing operations at Gibbs including six plants spanning five countries. In addition, functions reporting to him will be sales, engineering, manufacturing, finance, quality, human resources and purchasing.
A metallurgical engineer with 32 years of professional experience in plant and manufacturing operations management, Sparks comes to Gibbs from GKN Sinter Metals where he was president, North American Operations. As GKN Sinter Metals’ senior vice president, manufacturing, he focused on 30 plants in Europe and North American.
Prior to GKN, Sparks worked for TRW Corporation, where he was vice president, Central European Operations-Chassis Systems, Koblenz, Germany. From 1991-1996, Sparks worked for Varity Kelsey-Hayes, initially as director of manufacturing and then vice president, operations for Rotors & Drums for its Foundation Brakes Division in Romulus, Michigan.
He eventually was transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany as director, Foundation Brake Business Development. Later he assumed the role of vice president Europe and was responsible for the division’s business in the European automotive market.
Sparks attended Purdue University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgical Engineering in 1972 and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Administration in 1973. He served four years in the United States Air Force, including two years based in Tokyo, Japan.
Gibbs Die Casting, founded in 1947, is a Henderson-based company. With manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Brazil, Hungary, Korea, and China, Gibbs Die Casting provides uniform quality components to manufacturing facilities around the world. Gibbs employs approximately 1,100 team members. www.gibbsdc.com
Koch, president and chief executive officer of Koch Enterprises Inc., was cited as a champion of free enterprise in Southwestern Indiana and abroad.
Koch leads Koch Enterprises, which is one of the 500 largest privately held companies in the United States. Its businesses include Gibbs Die Casting and Audubon Metals -- both of which are located in Henderson -- as well as George Koch Sons, Koch Air Conditioning, Uniseal, Brake Supply and Comfort Financial Services. Koch Enterprises has overseas operations in England, Brazil, Korea, Hungary and China.
Koch is also active in higher education and is a member of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which oversees distribution of state business incentives.
Ellerbrook, chairman and chief executive officer of Vectren Corporation, was cited for activity in the community and service on local university and college boards.
The laureates and their families will be honored at a 7:30 a.m. breakfast on March 16 in the Ballroom of The Centre in Downtown Evansville.
Work done at new factory won't compete with operations in Tri-State
Koch Enterprises, founded in 1873 by Bob Koch's great grandfather, employs about 3,000 people around the world. About two-thirds of them work in Evansville and Henderson, he said. Before Sept. 11, 2001, Koch had about 3,400 employees. At the low point of the recession, the worldwide tally dropped to 2,700. While it closed one plant in Mexico, most of the losses have come from the U.S. facilities, Koch said.
"We've been growing in the foreign countries," he said. That's because Koch's customers, like Delphi, General Motors' main auto parts supplier, have been expanding outside the country. "They've been asking us to follow them," he said. Koch has a plant in Harlingen, Texas to serve Delphi's plant in Matamoros, Mexico 25 miles away; it also has a plant in Brazil to serve Delphi's plants in Brazil. It has plants in England, Canada and Korea, which have labor costs nearly equal to the United States. It also has a plant in Hungary, which produces parts at the lowest cost.
In Brazil, "the wages are lower (than in Hungary) but the productivity is not as good," Koch said.
The Chinese plant will not compete with the work done in Henderson, where workers also make aluminum die castings for air conditioning compressors, Koch said. All those parts go into cars made for the North American market, he said. Some go to Delphi, to Visteon, Ford's main parts supplier or to Chrysler suppliers; others go to intermediaries that sell air conditioners for Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi factories in the United States and Canada.
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