Acquisition Effects Largest North American Captive Heat Treaters
January 2, 2026 it was announced that Allison Transmission had acquired the Off-Highway Drive & Motion Systems business of Dana Incorporated-read the press release below and we will then tell you why a heat treatment publication such as “The Monty Heat Treat News” cares;
“INDIANAPOLIS, January 2, 2026 — Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ALSN, “Allison”, “the Company”) today announced it has completed its acquisition of the Off-Highway Drive & Motion Systems business of Dana Incorporated, a leading provider of drivetrain and propulsion solutions, for approximately $2.7 billion. The combination of industry-leading products and advanced technologies will accelerate Allison’s growth and broaden the Company’s position as a global provider of commercial duty mobility and work solutions that Improve the Way the World Works.”
In 2022 “The Monty Heat Treat News” published a heat treatment industry exclusive, a list of the “10 Largest Single Location Captive Heat Treats” in North America. Since that time changes have occurred and in 2023 we published our list of the “11 Largest Single Location Captive Heat Treats in North America”. In 2024 we updated the list to the “15 Largest Captive Heat Treats North America” and currently “The Monty” is in the process of updating the 2026 list with a number of new additions.
A quick scan of the list reveals “Dana Fairfield Manufacturing”, Lafayette, Indiana as the third largest single location captive heat treater in North America with “Allison Transmission”, Speedway, Indiana in the fourth position. While nothing physically changes with this acquisition some names will change.
In an industry exclusive Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News’ was granted permission to tour and photograph the “Dana Fairfield Manufacturing” facility in 2023-a rare honor indeed. The result was this article and photos.
It is interesting to note that 3 of the locations on this list are represented by Dana Inc., facilities, 2 in Mexico and 1 in Lafayette, Indiana, USA-it is the Indiana facility which is our focus today. Just last week Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” had the chance to visit this location for the first time and what we found was very impressive. (At this point I would like to thank my hosts, Bryce Tanner, Manufacturing Engineering Project Manager, Aaron Flesher, Metallurgist and Zenah Baker, Control Metallurgist).
The result is that the facility can be considered High Mix/Low Volume in that typical orders might be 100-200 high precision gears which are destined for such various industries as agriculture, oil & gas, power generation and defense.
In terms of capabilities the company can process gears up to 36” in diameter, with a weight of up to 900 pounds, shafts up to 2,000 pounds while the Induction systems can handle up to an 80” internal diameter.
In summary anybody with an interest and knowledge of in-house heat treating would find this a fascinating tour and after our visit we have no doubt but that Dana, Lafayette, Indiana deserves to be on our list of “The 15 Largest Single Location Heat Treats in North America”.
