Harbour is sold to N.Y.-based global consulting firm
Publisher of auto plant efficiency report sees chance to grow
Harbour is sold to N.Y.-based global consulting firm
January 7, 2008
Harbour Consulting, the Troy-based firm that set the standard in automotive shop-floor efficiency studies with publication of the first Harbour Report in 1989, has been sold to Oliver Wyman, a $1.3-billion global consulting firm based in New York.
Ron Harbour, president and CEO of the firm his father, Jim, founded in 1980, said he intends to remain active with the company, serving as the global director of the automotive manufacturing practice for Oliver Wyman.
"A big driver for me, personally, in this sale is that I get back into being closer to clients," Ron Harbour said. "As we’ve grown over the years and opened offices in" Frankfurt, Germany, "and Thailand, I’ve become so immersed in the administrative stuff that I missed being close to the clients."
Best known for the annual Harbour Report, which contains detailed plant-by-plant data and analysis on major automotive plants in North America, Europe and South America, Harbour Consulting now derives more than half of its annual revenue of around $9 million from consulting activities worldwide, Ron Harbour said. Harbour Consulting employs about 50 people.
Ron Harbour, 50, said the annual automotive productivity studies still will be called the Harbour Report, but the Troy-based auto manufacturing practice will transition to the Oliver Wyman name. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Oliver Wyman, a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Cos., has an automotive consulting arm focused mainly in Europe and on research, marketing and other nonmanufacturing aspects of the business, so there is little overlap with the Harbour operation.
"We felt that the brand we built was still underdeveloped. I see this as an opportunity to grow bigger and faster," Harbour said.
(MARY SCHROEDER/DFP)
President and CEO Ron Harbour says he’ll still be active. "A big driver for me … in this sale is that I get back into being closer to clients."
