Case Studies
- Helping lenders serve a growing industry: environmental services
- Outsourcing legal remedies: Lear Corporation depends on Bodman
- Retaining a critical asset: Detroit Medical Center fights to keep the Karmanos Cancer Institute
- Relieving debt for a Korean War veteran
- Advancing the development of an artificial lung
- Setting a new precedent with an innovative labor agreement
- Marrying an auto-industry pioneer to a Japanese suitor
Marrying an auto-industry pioneer to a Japanese suitor
A creative young man named Jervis Webb adapted a chain conveyor for the automotive industry in 1919, changing the way cars would be manufactured for the next century. Over the next 80 years, the family-owned Jervis B. Webb Company continued to develop innovative material-handling equipment, including baggage-handling systems. Sought by airports around the world, the systems grew into a successful niche for the company, a fact not missed by Japan's Daifuku, a highly respected global competitor.
"Webb had developed the airport market, which Daifuku wasn't in," explains Bodman's Larry Deitch. "They wanted a presence in that market, and by acquiring Webb, they could capture it -- and also gain the Webb brand and its engineering expertise."
A Bodman client since 1928, the Webb Company liked Daifuku's offer, so it turned to Bodman to negotiate and structure the sale of 100 percent of its shares. "The Japanese have a more methodical, collaborative style than is the norm in the U.S.," says Deitch. "It was a challenge, but we succeeded in bridging cultures and reaching unanimous approval from the Webb family shareholders."
The infusion of capital made the company stronger and kept jobs in Michigan. Daifuku is now one of the largest material-handling companies in the world.