NEW YORK (AP) -- The chief executive of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. told analysts Thursday that the auto supplier's restructuring plan remains on track and the company's management has the goal of returning it to profitability this year.
Richard E. Dauch, American Axle's co-founder, chairman and CEO, said the company continues to make progress on its "restructuring, resizing and recovery" plan after surviving one of the toughest years for the industry in history.
"The year of 2008, a year we simply call the year from hell, is almost in the history books," Dauch told analysts at the Deutsche Bank Securities 2009 Auto Analysts of New York Detroit Auto Conference. "I'm glad it's over."
The company said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that its 2008 sales totaled about $2.1 billion, down 35 percent from $3.25 billion in 2007. Full-year program volumes fell about 43 percent compared with the year before.
Auto suppliers across the board saw their sales tumble in 2008 as a result of the steep decline in North American vehicle production. In addition, American Axle was crippled by a nearly three-month-long United Auto Workers union strike in the first half of the year that shut down most of its operations.
The company, whose sales are still heavily tied to General Motors Corp.'s light truck production, also was hurt by the shift in consumer preferences away from pickups and spot utility vehicles.
But Dauch said the company continues to diversify its product and customer base and currently has a backlog that is $1.4 billion and growing.
Dauch said American Axle is resizing its U.S. operations based on expectations of 2009 U.S. vehicle sales of 10 million to 12 million units. The company is on track to slash its U.S. capacity by 70 percent, while at the same time increase its capacity in the rest of the world by 150 percent.
The company cut more than 2,500 hourly and salaried jobs in 2008, which is expected to reduce total annual structural costs by over $350 million. At the same time, new labor agreements reached earlier this year dramatically reduced labor costs related to its remaining 1,500 UAW workers, he said.
Dauch said the restructuring moves made by his company could serve as a template for the U.S.-based automakers, who he said must also bring their labor costs in line with those of their foreign competitors.
In afternoon trading, American Axle shares fell 20 cents, or 11 percent, to $1.63.