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CUSTOMERS' PROBLEMS DRIVE DOWNTURN AT UNIVERSAL AUTO.(Brief Article)
Crain's Chicago Business, August, 1999 by MURPHY, H. LEE
To broaden its merchandise mix, Universal Automotive Industries Inc. went on an acquisition spree in the mid-1990s. But the Chicago company later learned that its customers are at least as important as its product line. The manufacturer of brakes and accessories for the automotive aftermarket saw its profits spiral downward in 1997-98 after big accounts got into financial trouble.
Houston-based APS Inc., a distributor that had been Universal's largest customer with more than $10 million in annual volume, filed for bankruptcy in February 1998 and eventually liquidated. In October 1995, Universal acquired the Csepel Iron Foundry Works in Hungary, but the foundry's largest customer was a Russian firm, Raba Inc., which virtually collapsed last year amid the...
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