Why the seat king wants out of the seat business: Boom-and-bust cycles, big investments make it tough

摘要

Johnson Controls Inc., the world's biggest producer of automotive seats, is looking for a way out of that business. Huh? What? Why? With annual sales of $22 billion, JCI's seating and interior trim units have achieved economies of scale that rivals can't match. But the auto industry goes through boom- and-bust cycles that can wreak havoc on a company's cash flow. And the seat business needs serious capital investment to maintain growth.