## Customer Dependence 

We are largely dependent on light vehicle, medium- and heavy-duty vehicle and of f-highway original equipment manufacturer customers. Ford Motor Company (Ford) was the only individual customer accounting for 10% or more of our consolidated sales in 2014. As a percentage of total sales from operations, our sales to Ford were approximately 18% in 2014 and 18% in 2013 and 17% in 2012 and our sales to PACCAR, our second largest customer, were approximately 9% in 2014 and 8% in both 2013 and 2012. Hyundai Mobis, Tata Motors and Nissan Motor Corporation were our third, fourth and fifth lar gest customers in 2014. Our 10 largest customers collectively accounted for approximately 55% of our sales in 2014. 

Loss of all or a substantial portion of our sales to Ford or other lar ge volume customers would have a significant adverse effect on our financial results until such lost sales volume could be replaced and there is no assurance that any such lost volume would be replaced. We continue to work to diversify our customer base and geographic footprint. 

## Sources and Availability of Raw Materials 

We use a variety of raw materials in the production of our products, including steel and products containing steel, stainless steel, forgings, castings and bearings. Other commodity purchases include aluminum, brass, copper and plastics. These materials are typically available from multiple qualified sources in quantities suf ficient for our needs. However , some of our operations remain dependent on single sources for certain raw materials. 

While our suppliers have generally been able to support our needs, our operations may experience shortages and delays in the supply of raw material from time to time, due to strong demand, capacity limitations, short lead times, production schedule increases from our customers and other problems experienced by the suppliers. A significant or prolonged shortage of critical components from any of our suppliers could adversely impact our ability to meet our production schedules and to deliver our products to our customers in a timely manner . 

## Seasonality 

Our businesses are generally not seasonal. However, in the light vehicle market, our sales are closely related to the production schedules of our OEM customers and those schedules have historically been weakest in the third quarter of the year due to a large number of model year change-overs that occur during this period. Additionally, third-quarter production schedules in Europe are typically impacted by the summer vacation schedules and fourth-quarter production is af fected globally by year-end holidays. 

## Backlog 

A substantial amount of the new business we are awarded by OEMs is granted well in advance of a program launch. These awards typically extend through the life of the given program. This backlog of new business does not represent firm orders. We estimate future sales from new business using the projected volume under these programs. 

## Competition 

Within each of our markets, we compete with a variety of independent suppliers and distributors, as well as with the in- house operations of certain OEMs. With a renewed focus on product innovation, we dif ferentiate ourselves through ef ficiency and performance, reliability , materials and processes, sustainability and product extension. 

