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last update: September 2002

  

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket 80-96]


Foreign-Trade Zone 189--Muskegon, MI; Application for Subzone
Status, Diesel Technology Company (Inc.), Facilities, (Diesel Engine
Fuel Injection Components), Kentwood, Michigan

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Kent Ottawa Muskegon Foreign Trade Zone Authority,
grantee of FTZ 189, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the
diesel engine fuel injection components manufacturing facilities of the
Diesel Technology Company (Inc.) (DTC) (a Penske Transportation/Robert
Bosch Corporation joint venture), located in Kentwood, Michigan. The
application was submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Foreign-
Trade Zones Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u), and the regulations of
the Board (15 CFR Part 400). It was formally filed on October 31, 1996.

    The DTC plant consists of two manufacturing/warehousing facilities
(1,100 employees) located in Kentwood (Kent County), Michigan, about
five miles southeast of Grand Rapids: Site 1 (218,000 sq. ft. on 54
acres)--manufacturing facility, 4300 44th Street, SE., one mile west of
the Kent County Airport; Site 2 (7,000 sq. ft.)--remanufacturing
facility, 4232 Brockton Drive, SE., located 500 feet to the north of
Site 1. The facilities are used to manufacture and repair high pressure
unit fuel injectors and unit injection fuel pumps as fuel system
components for heavy truck diesel engines. Currently, all of the
finished products are exported (future U.S. sales are expected), and
some of the remanufactured units are shipped to U.S. customers. The
production process involves machining, assembly, testing, and
warehousing/distribution. Components purchased from abroad
(representing less than 10% of finished product value), include
injector nozzles, needle springs, and pump roller follower assemblies,
which are classified under the same HTSUS category as the finished
products.

    Zone procedures would exempt DTC from Customs duty payments on the
foreign components used in export production. On its domestic
shipments, the company would be able to defer duty payments on the
foreign components until the finished products are processed for
Customs entry. The application indicates that subzone status would help
improve the facilities' international competitiveness.

    In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ
Staff has been designated examiner to investigate the application and
report to the Board.

    Public comment on the application is invited from interested
parties. Submissions (original and three copies) shall be addressed to
the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing
period for their receipt is January 13, 1997. Rebuttal comments in
response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be
submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to January 27, 1997).

    A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

U.S. Export Assistance Center--Branch Office, Suite 718 S, 301 W.
Fulton Street, Grand Rapids, MI 49503-6495.
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th Street & Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20230-0002.

    Dated: November 4, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-28922 Filed 11-8-96; 8:45 am]