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Toyota started the operation of its plant in Texas, USA with the annual production capacity of 200,000 while plans to start its second Canadian plant with the annual production capacity of 150,000 in 2008 and the Mississippi plant with the annual production capacity of 150,000 around 2010. Further, it will start manufacturing the Camry in 2007 by entrusting the operation to Fuji Heavy Industries' production base SIA (the annual production capacity of 100,000). It will also expand the annual production capacity of the Tacoma to 50,000 at its Mexican plant.
Also, Nissan will expand the annual production capacity at the Aguascalientes in Mexico from the current 200,000 to 350,000 in 2007 with a further possibility to expand its annual production capacity in North America to be considered. Honda also plans to start operating a new Indiana plant in 2008 with the annual production capacity of 200,000.
In order to deal with these Japanese automobile manufacturers' production expansion plans in North America including localization of powertrain production, Japanese automobile part suppliers pushed forward the enhancement of their production structures in North America such as construction of new production bases or new plants, reinforcement of facilities and expansion of production items. Moreover, there are movements which some part suppliers dissolved joint ventures with US and European part suppliers to make those production bases as their wholly owned subsidiaries.
The following are recent trends by Japanese automobile part suppliers to expand their production bases in North America.
■Production expansion plans in North America by Toyota/Nissan/Honda
| |
Outline |
| Toyota |
Nov. 2006 |
Texas plant starts its operation with the production of the Tundra. The annual production capacity is 200,000. |
| Spring 2007 |
Starts producing the Camry at Fuji Heavy Industries' SIA. The annual production capacity is 100,000. |
| 2007 |
Expands the annual production capacity of the Tacoma at its Mexican plant from 30,000 to 50,000. |
| Autumn 2008 |
Its 2nd Canadian plant starts its operation with the production of the RAV4. The annual production capacity is 150,000. |
| Around 2010 |
The Mississippi plant starts its operation with the production of the Highlander. The annual production capacity is 150,000.
With the operation of the new Mississippi plant, Toyota's annual production capacity in North America will be 2.17 million. |
| Nissan |
2007 |
Expands the production capacity of its Aguascalientes plant in Mexico from 200,000 to 350,000.
The total annual production in Mexico when combined with the Cuernavaca plant will be 490,000. |
| 2008 onward |
Considers reinforcing its production capacity in North America in its mid-term business plan for the year 2008 and later. |
| Honda |
Autumn 2008 |
Its Indiana plant starts the operation with the annual production capacity of 200,000.
Honda's total production capacity in North America after the operation commencement of the Indiana new plant will be 1.6 million. |
Sources: PR information from the three manufacturers, Nikkei Business Daily issued on December 13, 2006 and others
■Aisin Seiki and Yutaka Giken construct new plants close to where delivering the goods while NTN builds supply base for Hyundai Motor
As for the construction of new production bases and new plants, the following companies either have already established or plan to establish new plants; Nippon Piston Ring for its third production base in North America, Nihon Tokushu Toryo for the fourth plant of its American joint venture UGN, Inc., JTEKT for Koyo Corporation of America's third plant and Tokai Rubber for its fourth plant in 2010.
Aisin Seiki will construct a new doorframe production company in California to supply to the Corolla manufactured at NUMMI, a joint venture of Toyota and GM. Yutaka Giken will manufacture torque converters at its new plant in Alabama and supply them to Honda's Alabama plant. The two companies will reduce logistics costs by producing near where they deliver the goods to instead of supplying from the Indiana plant or the Ohio plant.
Further, NTN will produce constant-velocity joints with KOFCO Group of Korea to supply the whole amount to local plants of Hyundai Motor. Ibiden will export DPF for diesel engines of pickup trucks equivalent of 350,000 vehicles annually to start with and will consider the local production depending on order expansion.
| ■The movements of Japanese automobile part suppliers in USA: Construction of new production sites/new plants |
| (Trends mainly in 2006. Originally in Japanese phonetic order.) |
■Aisin Seiki: Establishes a production company of Wet Friction Materials for AT
| Aisin Seiki newly established AISIN CHEMICAL INDIANA, LLC, a production company of wet friction materials, inside the compound of Aisin Drivetrain plant in Indiana to start the production in July 2007. The investment amount is 12.5 million USD. The new company will supply the products to Toyota and Aisin AW North Carolina with planned sales of 20 million USD in FY2009. |
| Wet friction materials are components that transmit and cut off torque during shifting of automatic transmissions, and which were developed by Aisin Chemical Co., Ltd. and currently manufactured in Japan. They are called "Segment type" and relatively cheaper and effective to improve fuel efficiency compared to the conventional type. |
■Aisin Seiki: Establishes a doorframe production company in California to supply NUMMI
| Aisin Seiki currently produces doorframes only at its Indiana plant and supplies to all over North America. In November 2006 the Company established Aisin MFG. California, LLC in California in order to reduce logistics cost. The new company will supply doorframes to the Corolla manufactured at NUMMI, a joint venture company between Toyota and GM, from January 2008. The investment amount is 10 million USD (approximately 1.2 billion JPY). The planned sales of FY2010 are 16 million USD. |
| NUMMI changed how it procures components from joint procurement with GM to the bulk procurement by Toyota. In addition, NUMMI was requesting component suppliers from Toyota Group such as Aisin Seiki to establish their plants in the West Coast region. NUMMI will introduce Toyota's latest assembly lines and painting facilities for the production of the new Corolla starting in 2008. |
■Ibiden: Export DPF for diesel engines from Japan while considering producing in North America
| Ibiden will start manufacturing DPF for North America by remodeling a part of its DPF lines for passenger cars for Europe at its Ogaki-Kita Plant in Japan as it expects that diesel engine vehicles will be on the increase in the pickup truck market in USA (the Company will initially export DPF equivalent to 350,000 vehicles annually). The Company will consider producing DPF in North America if the demand expands. |
■NTN: Manufactures constant-velocity joints with Korean manufacturer to supply Hyundai Motor
| NTN establishes Seohan-NTN Driveshaft USA Corporation in Alabama jointly with Korea Flange Co., Ltd. KOFCO Group of Korea in March 2007. The new company will produce constant-velocity joints from February 2008 to supply all the production to Hyundai Motor. The capital amount is 6 million USD, which was injected by NTN with 49% and by KOFCO Group with 51%. The new company plans to have 2.5 billion JPY in FY2008 and 5 billion JPY in FY2010 in sales by investing 7 million USD by 2009. |
■JTEKT: Establishes a 3rd plant of Koyo Corporation of U.S.A. to increase production of taper-roller bearings for Toyota and the Big 3
| JTEKT will construct a third plant to produce taper-roller bearings at Koyo Corporation of America in Tennessee and will start producing components for underbodies or transmissions in July 2008 for Toyota and the Big Three. The monthly production capacity is 500,000. The total investment is 20 million USD (approximately 2.3 billion JPY) and the annual production value is 3 billion JPY. The Company's monthly production capacity in the whole North America will expand from 1 million to 1.5 million. |
■Tokai Rubber: Constructs a new plant in 2010 to expand the production of anti-vibration rubber and hoses
| Tokai Rubber plans to produce anti-vibration rubber and hoses by constructing a new plant around 2010 in addition to its existing three plants in Ohio and Tennessee in order to meet the production increase by Japanese automotive manufacturers including Toyota. |
■Nihon Tokushu Toryo: Completes a new plant in Kentucky and produces noise reduction carpets
| The fourth plant of UGN, Inc., a USA joint venture of Nihon Tokushu Toryo, was completed in May 2006 in Kentucky. The new company produces noise reduction carpets RIETER ULTRA LIGHT and advanced damping parts NT Damplex. The investment is 93 million JPY in FY2005 and 72 million JPY in FY2006. The planned sales of FY2006 and FY2007 are 19 million USD and 40 million USD respectively. |
■Nippon Piston Ring: Starts producing steel piston rings at its 3rd base in North America in Oct. 2007
| Nippon Piston Ring established NPR Manufacturing Kentucky in Kentucky as its third base in North America to start producing steel piston rings in October 2007. The Company invests 4 billion JPY from FY2006 to FY2008 and will make a further investment of 1.5 billion JPY in FY2009 and after in order to make its production scale reach 4 million in FY2008 and 18 million in FY2010 to deal with Japanese automobile manufacturers procuring major engine parts locally. |
■Faltec: Considers re-entering North American market where the company once withdrew in 2005
| Faltec, which is a holding company of former Hashimoto Forming Industries Co., Ltd. and former Altia Co., Ltd., established its management plan for the period FY2007 to FY2009 in February 2007. The plan states that it will consider re-entering the North American market based on its plan to construct a global supply structure for exterior parts. Hashimoto Forming Industries withdrew from the North American market in 2005. |
■Yutaka Giken: Establishes its 3rd North American base in Alabama to supply to Honda's plant
| Yutaka Giken established Alabama Cullman Yutaka Technologies, LLC in Alabama in December 2006. The Company will invest 5.4 billion JPY to establish its third North American production base to produce torque converters and exhaust parts, all of which will be supplied to Honda's Alabama plant. The Company is currently supplying from its Ohio plant but will manufacture near the Honda plant in order to improve its competitiveness. The Company expects to have 10 billion JPY in sales in FY2009. |
Resources: PR information from the companies and media coverage
■Reinforcement of facilities and expansion of production items mainly for engines/engine periphery parts
As for reinforcement of facilities, there are many plans to increase production of engines/periphery parts. The following companies expand the following production structures; Sumitomo Metal Industries for forged crankshafts, Tanaka Seimitsu Kogyo for aluminum rocker arms, Tsubakimoto Chain for timing chains, Teikoku Piston Ring for piston rings and cylinder liners, TFO for crankshafts, Denso for fuel pump modules and Nippon Piston Ring for valve sheets.
Among the expansion of product items of engines/ periphery parts, Suncall and Tokai Rubber have started or plan to manufacture engine valve springs and electric active control engine amounts, respectively. As for diesel engine parts TBK and T.RAD both start full-scale production of diesel engine pumps or EGR coolers including the supply for American manufacturers, respectively.
In addition, F-tech and KYB plan to expand their facilities for large-sized pressed parts or shock absorbers or to significantly increase the production volume. As for the expansion of production items, Advics and Marujun will start producing products including ESC or bumper beams that use high-tension steel plate at their North American bases for the first time, respectively.
| ■The movements of Japanese automobile part suppliers in USA: Expansion of production capacity and production items |
| (Trends mainly in 2006. Originally in Japanese phonetic order.) |
■Aisin Chemical: Expands the production of damping coat to 900 tons/month
| Aisin Chemical developed damping coat, which is effective only by coating, in 2002. The Company currently produces 600 tons of damping coat per month in North America by entrusting the production. The Company will start producing 300 tons of damping coat per month in May 2007 by establishing new facilities to Aisin Seiki's Drivetrain plant (Indiana) (investment amount of 500 million JPY) to increase the monthly production to 900 tons in order to handle the increase of contracts including the supply for Toyota's new Tundra. |
■Advics: Produces ESC at its US plant from 2008
| Advics will establish production lines for ESC (Electronic Stability Control) at ADVICS Manufacturing Ohio, Inc. in Ohio to produce 600,000 per year by investing 37 million USD and will start the production in 2008. The Company will expand the production after 2008 depending on the market expansion. The Company's sales in North America in FY2006 were 680 million USD. However, it aims to increase the sales to 1,000 million USD in around 2010 mainly with Electronically Controlled Brakes such as ESC. |
■Imasen Electric Industrial: Localizes the production of seat adjusters around 2009
| Imasen Electric Industrial manufactures seat adjusters at Imasen Bucyrus Technology Inc. in Ohio mainly for Honda. As transportation costs are high due to many semi-finished products and parts being imported from Japan, the Company will shift to local production by every model change to improve ordinary income to net sales from the current 0.7% to 7% in FY2009. |
■Exedy: Increases the production volume and the rate of internal production by investing 2 billion JPY into the torque converter business
| Exedy's torque converter business rapidly expanded in 2006 thanks to GM/Ford employed the Company's torque converters for their new six speed ATs. The expected sales of FY2006 of Exedy America Corporation (EAC), which manufactures torque converters in Tennessee, are 11 billion JPY (the planned sales were 8.5 billion JPY). The supply to GM/Ford is expected to expand significantly in 2008 and 2009. In order to increase the production volume and the rate of internal production of aluminum die-cast parts and friction materials, the Company invests 2 billion JPY into EAC and Dynax America Corporation, which manufactures friction materials, in FY2007. |
■F-tech: Increases the production of large-sized pressed parts at the Ohio plant to supply Honda's Indiana new plant
| F-tech's American subsidiary F&P America Manufacturing, Inc. will invest a little over 2 billion JPY into the Ohio plant by 2008 to double the production capacity of large-sized pressed parts by introducing a 3,000 ton pressing machine and other facilities. The Company will increase the production of suspension parts and sub-frames and supply them to Honda's Indiana new plant that will start operating in the autumn of 2008. The Company uses the Georgia plant for welding and coating. |
■Cataler: Doubles the production capacity of exhaust gas purification catalyst in spring of 2007
| Cataler will double the annual production capacity of catalysts at Cataler North America Corporation established in 2001 in North Carolina from 2.5 million to 5 million in the spring of 2007 to strengthen its supply structure for Toyota/Isuzu/GM. |
■KYB: Expands annual production capacity of shock absorbers by 3 million units to produce 9.6 million units in 2008
| KYB will establish a new plant building at KYB Manufacturing North America Inc., which was built in 2001 in Indiana, by investing approximately 3.1 billion JPY to expand the production capacity of shock absorbers by 3 million to have the structure to produce 9.6 million. The new plant building will start the operation in April 2008 to deal with the demand expansion from Japanese automobile manufacturers namely Toyota and Honda. |
■Suncall: Produces 400,000 engine valve springs per month since 2006
| Suncall started the production of engine valve springs (investment of approximately 600 million JPY), all of which had been imported from Japan, at Suncall America, which had been producing seat belt parts, in Virginia in October 2006. The Company plans to produce 400,000 per month in FY2007. |
■Sumitomo Metal Industries: Expands annual production capacity of forged crankshafts to 2.65 million in 2009
| Sumitomo Metal Industries produces 1.4 million crankshafts per year by fully operating the two forged pressing lines at International Crankshaft Inc. (Sumitomo Metal holds 80% and Sumitomo Corporation holds 20%) in Kentucky to supply to Japanese automobile manufacturers and Hyundai Motor. In order to respond to the demand from its customers to increase the production volume, the Company will increase the annual production to 2.65 million by January 2009 by introducing a 6,000-ton press and establishing a third line with an annual production capacity of 1.25 million (investment amount of 4.5 billion JPY). |
■Suminoe: Expands the production of seat fabric and carpets by 2.5 times in 3 years
| Suminoe produces 2.5 million square meters of seat fabric and 1.5 million square meters of carpet, totally 4 million square meters at Suminoe Textile of America Co. in South Carolina. The Company will produce total of 10 million square meters (5.5 million square meters of seat fabric and 4.5 million square meters of carpets) in three years to respond to the production increase of Japanese automotive manufacturers with a plan to double the sales of its American business to 6-6.5 billion JPY (actual sales of FY2005 were 3 billion JPY). |
■Seiren: Expands the monthly production capacity of sheets of 2008 to 1 million meters
| Seiren expands the monthly production capacity at a plant of Viscotec Automotive Products, LLC in North Carolina from 700,000 meters to 1 million meters in 2008 to respond to the production increase at Japanese automobile manufacturers. |
■Tanaka Seimitsu Kogyo: Expands the monthly production of aluminum rocker arms from 400K to 1 million
| Tanaka Seimitsu Kogyo will increase the monthly production capacity of aluminum rocker arms from 400,000 to 1 million by the end of FY2007 by investing 3.5 billion JPY into F.T. Precision, Inc. in Ohio. This is to respond to its main business partner Honda's shift from steel rocker arms to aluminum rocker arms. |
■Tsubakimoto Chain: Expands the supply of timing chains to Toyota and Ford
| Tsubakimoto Chain will increase the production of timing chains to expand the supply to Toyota and Ford by investing 1 billion JPY in each year of 2006 to 2008 into U.S. Tsubaki, Inc. The sales for Ford in FY2007 will expand to 5.2 billion JPY (sales of FY2005 were 1.6 billion JPY) as timing chains are newly employed for Ford's V6 3500cc engines in 2006. The expected sales of U.S. Tsubaki, Inc. in FY2007 are 14.3 billion JPY (doubled from those of FY2005). |
■Teikoku Piston Ring: Expands the production capacity of piston rings and cylinder liners
| Teikoku Piston Ring expands the monthly production capacity of piston rings at United Piston Ring, Inc. in Wisconsin from 300,000 to 2 million and of cylinder liners at Federal-Mogul TP Liners, Inc. in Minnesota from 300,000 to 600,000, respectively by investing total of more than 1 billion JPY to responds to the production increase at Japanese automobile manufacturers. |
■TFO: Reinforces crankshaft facilities to increase the production for Honda
| TFO manufactures 480,000 crankshafts for four cylinder engines and 300,000 crankshafts for V6 annually at TFO Tech Co., Ltd. in Ohio. The Company will increase the number of lines (the investment amount for a 5,000-ton forging press is 1.2 billion JPY) by the spring of 2008 to have the annual production of 840,000-1.4 million crankshafts for four cylinder engines and 360,000 crankshafts for V6 engines and increase the production for Honda. |
■TBK: Expands the production of pumps for diesel engines
| TBK manufactures pumps for diesel engines, which was imported from Japan, at its assembly plant in Indiana since January 2007 and delivers to DMAX, which is a joint production company of Isuzu and GM. The Company plans to make an additional investment of 1 billion JPY to expand the supply to engine manufacturers such as Cummins and Caterpillar to increase the sales of its North American plant from 400 million JPY in FY2007 to 2.1 billion JPY in FY2008 and 4.5 billion JPY in FY2010. |
■T.RAD: Starts producing EGR coolers for diesel engines thanks to the contract from DaimlerChrysler
| T.RAD won bulk order contracts for EGR coolers from multiple manufacturers including DaimlerChrysler for Cummins V6 diesel engines. The Company starts full-scale production in the period from the end of 2006 to the first half of 2007 at T.RAD North America, Inc. in Kentucky where manufactures mainly gasoline engine radiators to establish a production structure of annual production of over 300,000 at an early stage. |
■Denso: Expands its fuel pump module plant and doubles the sales
| Denso will builds a new plant building to reinforce the production capacity of fuel pump module and their components, which are filters and flanges, at KYOSAN DENSO Manufacturing Kentucky, LLC in Kentucky. The new plant will start its operation in June 2007 with an investment amount of 27.1 million USD (approximately 3.1 billion JPY). The sales are expected to expand from 74 million USD (approximately 8.4 billion JPY) in FY2005 to 160 million USD (approximately 18 billion JPY) in FY2010. |
■Tokai Rubber: Starts manufacturing electric ACM at Ohio plant in 2008
| Tokai Rubber will produce electric ACM (Active Control Mount) at DTR Industries, Inc. in Ohio from 2008. Electric ACM is a type of anti-vibration rubber that generates opposite vibration from engine vibrations by actuators to kill the engine vibration. |
■Toyota Boshoku: Wins a package contract for ceilings/seats/door interiors for Camry that Toyota manufactures at SIA
| Toyota Boshoku won a package contract for ceilings/seats/door interior parts for the Camry that Toyota manufactures at SIA, Fuji Heavy Industries' American production base in Indiana. The Company produces ceilings at TOYOTA BOSHOKU MANUFACTURING KENTUCKY LLC while entrusts the production of seats to NHK Seating of America Inc. and the production of door interior parts to Heartland Automotive, LLC a group company from Sugeru Co. (from Fuji Heavy Industries Group). Toyota Boshoku will administrate the quality and delivery dates for the volume produced under the consignment. |
■Toyota Tsusho: Expands the assembly business of tires and wheels, starting at FHI's SIA
| Toyota Tsusho started the business, which assembles tires and wheels corresponding to the specifications of produced vehicles at NUMMI a joint venture of Toyota and GM, in 2002. The Company starts the business at Toyota's Texas plant for the Tundra in November 2006 and at Fuji Heavy Industries' SIA for the Camry in the spring of 2007. In 2008, the Company will also start the business at Toyota's Canadian second plant. The sales in this business are expected to be 34 billion JPY in 2006 and planned to be 55 billion JPY in 2008. |
■Japan Vilene: Expands sales in floor mats in North America in 2008 to ¥13.7 billion (¥8.8 billion in 2005)
| Japan Vilene is currently expanding the production capacity of floor mats at Tennessee plant of VIAM Manufacturing, Inc with a plan to complete the construction in March 2007. In addition to the increased production at Japanese automobile manufacturers, the equivalent amount of mats supplied by the major interior company of America Collins & Aikman, which filed for Chapter 11, Title 11 of the U.S. Code in May 2005, is expected to be changed to mats produced by VIAM. The sales in the North American business are 8.8 billion JPY in 2005 and are planned to be 13.7 billion JPY in 2008. |
■Nippon Piston Ring: Constructs an integrated production structure for valve seats and doubles production capacity
| Nippon Piston Ring doubles the monthly production capacity to 3 million in FY2008 by investing 400-500 million JPY into NPR Manufacturing Michigan, LLC to introduce a sintering furnace for iron or other materials and a pressing machine to have an integrated production structure. By localizing material processing, it becomes possible to deal with production increase flexibly. |
■Nihon Plast: Produces airbags at Georgia plant in addition to Ohio plant
| Neaton Auto Products Manufacturing, Inc., an American subsidiary of Nihon Plast, produces 2.5 million airbags at the Ohio plant annually and steering wheels and plastic parts for Nissan and Honda at the Georgia plant. The Company started producing airbags at the Georgia plant in July 2006 to respond to the production increase at Honda and Nissan (an investment of 650 million JPY). The sales in airbags in North American region are expected to be 12 billion JPY in FY2006 and planned to be 18 billion JPY in FY2008. |
■Hi-Lex: Expands production of door system components to 2.6 million in 2010 (quadruple increase)
| Hi-Lex received a bulk order to door system components for the Dodge Durango from DaimlerChrysler. The Company will construct a new plant building at Hi-Lex Controls, Inc. in Michigan by investing 15 million USD to expand the annual production of door system components including window regulators from 600,000 to 2 million by 2008 in 2.6 million in 2009-2010. |
■Marujun: Produces bumper beams by introducing roll casting lines to North American plant
| Marujun plans to localize the production of front bumper beams, which are currently imported from Japan, by introducing roll casting lines that can easily cast high-tension steel plate to TOMASCO Mulciber Inc. (funded by four companies of Marujun, Masuda Manufacturing, Bestex Kyoei and Honda) in Ohio to deal with the increased demand of bumper beams using high-tension steel plate in North America. |
Resources: PR information from the companies and media coverage
■ASAHI TEC acquires Metaldyne, Ichikoh dissolves old company and establishes a new company with Mitsuba
Business restructuring such as acquisition of American part suppliers by Japanese part suppliers or movements to dissolve joint production with American part suppliers to make them wholly owned subsidiaries still continues.
ASAHI TEC took over Metaldyne of USA. Shiroki Corporation purchased a closed plant to make is as its third plant in North America. Daido Metal, Taiho Kogyo and Nippon Paint dissolved their joint production and established wholly owned subsidiaries.
Ichikoh Industries dissolved former company and established a new joint venture with Mitsuba. The Company will downsize the business with GM and restructure its North American business with the supply to Japanese automobile manufacturers at the core.
| ■The movements of Japanese automobile part suppliers in USA: Business restructuring including acquisition/merger/withdrawal |
| (Trends mainly in 2006. Originally in Japanese phonetic order.) |
■Akebono brake: Itochu increases its stake to 9.5% and also considers joining to the restructuring of the North American business
| Akebono brake announced in December 2006 the business alliance with Itochu. Itochu increases its stake into Akebono brake from 0.8% to 9.5%. The two companies enter global alliance to aim achieving Akebono's Global 30 plan including acquiring of 30% share in the global brake pad market. |
| As for North America, the two companies consider that Itochu's participation to the restructuring of Akebono brake's North American business through establishment of a joint venture to sell aftermarket brake parts and utilizing Itochu's North American distribution network. |
■ASAHI TEC: acquires Metaldyne of USA in Jan. 2007, sales of the 2 companies reaching $ 2.7 billion
| ASAHI TEC acquired Metaldyne of USA, which produces metal parts including powertrains and chassis in January 2007 and made it as its wholly owned subsidiary. The acquisition amount is approximately 1.2 billion USD. ASAHI TEC's major shareholder is Belgian investment company RHJ International (it holds 62.77% as of the end of September 2006). Mitsui became a shareholder of 20% as it increased the capital by 12 billion JPY to finance the acquisition. |
| The annual sales when sales of ASAHI TEC and Metaldyne are combined are approximately 2,700 million USD (the most recent annual sales are 1,870 million USD for Metaldyne and 641 million UDS for ASAHI TEC with Asia 35%, North America 50% and Europe 15%. The number of staff is approximately 10,000. There are 39 production bases in 15 countries. The Company says it becomes a supplier that can handle from automobile casting parts and forged parts to make system modules. |
■Ichikoh: Reconstructs the North American business by establishing a joint company with Mitsuba
| Ichikoh Industries dissolved its wholly owned company Ichikoh Manufacturing, Inc. in Kentucky in December 2006. Ichikoh Mitsuba, Inc., which Ichikoh and Mitsuba jointly established took over the business and started the operation in February 2007. The capital fund of the new company is 12 million USD, which Ichikoh invested 75% and Mitsuba invested 25%. The new company manufactures and sells mirrors/small lamps, cast/paint coated plastic parts for automobiles with the planned sales for FY2007 are 52 million USD. |
| Ichikoh Manufacturing Inc. was established in 1987. Although 50% of the sales had been for GM until 2004, due to continued deficit, the company reduced the supply to GM. The sales of FY2005 declined by 2.6 billion JPY to 5.9 billion JPY compared to those of the previous year. The expected sales of FY2006 are around 5 billion JPY. The Company plans to reconstruct its North American business to target Japanese automobile manufacturers. |
■Shiroki Corporation: Acquires a closed plant to operate its 3rd plant in North America from March 2007
| Shiroki Corporation established SWM-GT, LLC in June 2006. The new company acquires a closed plant in Tennessee as Shiroki's third plant in North America and manufactures seat recliners, seat adjusters, window regulators and others from March 2007. The acquisition cost is 3 million USD. The Company will modify the existing facilities by spending 1 million USD. The new plant is close to its existing Tennessee plant. The company says that there are benefits such as being able to reduce investment costs and rehire experienced staff. |
■Daido Metal: Dissolves a joint venture with Dana, taking over a bearing plant in Ohio to make it as its subsidiary
| Daido Metal dissolved the joint venture with Dana in August 2005 and Daido Metal Bellefontaine (fully owned by Daido) took over a bearing production plant in Ohio. The plant introduced three lines that produce bearings at the same quality level as the Japanese plants and started full-scale production in January 2007 (in the period of 2005 to 2006, the Company supplied semi-finished products from Japan to secure quality). The Company plans to add further three production lines by the end of FY2008 to produce almost all the volume of mass produced products supplied to North America. The planned sales of FY2009 are 5.1 billion JPY (3.7 billion JPY in FY2006). |
■Taiho Kogyo: Dissolves joint venture with Federal-Mogul, continues the production of gaskets by making it as its wholly owned subsidiary
| Taiho Kogyo terminates the operation of TF Global Gasket, LLC, which is a gasket production company that the Company jointly established with Federal-Mogul in September 2002, at the end of March 2007 (the joint company plans to dissolve in June). A new fully owned subsidiary of Taiho Kogyo, Taiho Manufacturing of Tennessee, LLC, will acquire the plant compound and the facilities for 3.5 million USD to continue the production for Japanese automobile manufacturers. Federal-Mogul plans to transfer the production lines for its own use to other plants. |
■Nippon Paint: Acquires Bee Chemical to strengthen the plastic paint business
| Nippon Paint acquired Bee Chemical Company (sales of 2005 were 15 billion JPY), with which Nippon Paint had established joint ventures for paint for plastic in Japan and USA, to strengthen its North American paint business in the second half of 2006 and made it as its wholly owned subsidiary. The acquisition value as approximately 106 million USD (following the acquisition, the Company also made a joint company in USA, Morton Nippon Coatings as its wholly owned subsidiary). |
■Bridgestone: Closed its Oklahoma plant at the end of 2006
| Bridgestone's Oklahoma plant started its operation in 1969 and has produced general tires for passenger cars and light trucks. However, due to the continued deficit caused by the decreased demand and the increase in the import from the countries that require lower costs, the plant terminated the production and closed down at the end of 2006. |
■Bridgestone: Acquires a major retread company Bandag
| Bridgestone agreed to acquire a major retread company Bandag in December 2006. The acquisition value is 1,050 million USD. Bandag has 10 plants worldwide and over 900 franchise stores in over 90 countries. The sales of 2005 were 921 million USD. |
■U-Shin: Reconstructs its North American business by reducing staff and transferring a part of key set production to China
| In order to rebuild its North American business of which profit had deteriorated, the Company dispatched a team to reconstruct the business to YUSHIN USA LTD. (ORTECH) that manufactures key sets in Missouri and reduced the number of staff to 350 at the end of 2006 (reduction of 280 compared to the staff as of the end of 2005) and transferred a part of the component production to China. The Company succeeded to return into black in the period ending in November 2006 as a monthly basis and the period ending in November 2007 is expected to be in surplus through the whole period. However, the Company is still believed to be considering transferring the whole operation of the key set production to China. |
Resources: PR information from the companies and media coverage
■Movements in Canada: Aisin Seiki, Toyoda Iron Works, Toyota Boshoku establish new plants
In Canada, companies such as Aisin Seiki, Toyoda Iron Works and Toyota Boshoku establish new plants to respond to the construction of Toyota's second plant. Aisin Seiki also transfers the production of doorframes, which are currently supplied from the Indiana plant to Toyota's first Canadian plant, to the new plant to reduce logistical costs. Toyoda Iron Works produces pressed parts for automobile bodies and Toyota Boshoku produces seats at their new plants, respectively.
Further, Showa concentrates the production of pumps for hydraulic power steering wheels to the Canadian plant to construct an integrated production structure.
| ■The movements of Japanese automobile part suppliers in Canada: construction and expansion of production bases |
| (Trends mainly in 2006. Originally in Japanese phonetic order.) |
■Aisin Seiki: Establishes Canadian 2nd plant to supply doorframes to Toyota's new plant
| Aisin Seiki establishes its second plant in Aisin Canada, Inc. in Ontario in Canada to produce doorframes from January 2008 to supply to Toyota's Canadian second plant that starts operating in the autumn of 2008. The production of components for Toyota's Canadian plant that are currently produced at the Indiana plant will be also transferred to the new plant to reduce logistics cost. The investment amount is approximately 2.8 billion JPY. The Company expects to have sales of 3.1 billion JPY in FY2010. |
■Showa: Produces pumps for hydraulic power steering at the Canadian plant under integrated production system
| Showa transfers the assembly of pumps for hydraulic power steering from the Ohio plant to SHOWA Canada, Inc. in Ontario, Canada to start the production in the spring of 2007. The Company plans to establish an integrated production structure by investing 1.27 billion JPY into the Ontario plant to make it able to process sintered parts internally to produce products equivalent to 1.48 million vehicles in FY2009. |
■Toyota Tsusho: Establishes 2nd plant for assembly of tires and wheels to supply to Toyota's new 2nd plant
| Toyota Tsusho establishes a second plant in Canada for its business of assembly of tires and wheels business in Ontario (the sixth plant in North America) to supply to the RAV4 manufactured at Toyota's second plant in Canada. The Company expects to have annual sales of 6 billion JPY. |
■Toyoda Iron Works: Establishes a pressing plant in Canada to supply to Toyota
| Toyoda Iron Works establishes TOYOTETSU CANADA, INC., its fourth production base in North America, to produce pressed parts for automobile bodies including radiator supports from December 2007. The Company currently supplies the products from two plants in Kentucky. However, as transportation costs are piling up, the Company enters into Canada to respond to Toyota's production expansion. |
■Toyota Boshoku: Establishes a seat production company in Canada to supply to Toyota's new plant from 2008
| Toyota Boshoku established Toyota Boshoku Canada, Inc. in Ontario, Canada to supply 150,000 sets of seats, door trims and carpets annually for the RAV4, which Toyota manufactures at its Canadian second plant from 2008. The capital is 4.4 billion JPY and the investment amount is 6 billion JPY. The expected sales in 2008 are 16 billion JPY. |
Resources: PR information from the companies and media coverage
■Movements in Mexico: Tachi-S increases the production of seats, Ahresty constructs a new plant
In Mexico, Tachi-S increases the production of seats and Ahresty constructs a new plant in order to respond to Nissan's production increase. Further, Kiriu succeeds Nissan's cylinder block casting plant and also starts producing brake components.
Additionally, Harada Industry started the production of radio antennas for Ford and DaimlerChrysler in 2007 taking over the operation from a US antenna manufacturer Ward Products LLC that terminated the production.
| ■The movements of Japanese automobile part suppliers in Mexico: construction/expansion of production bases |
| (Trends mainly in 2006. Originally in Japanese phonetic order.) |
■Ahresty: Establishes a new company in Mexico and produces die-cast parts from autumn of 2007
| Ahresty in June 2006 established AHRESTY MEXICANA S.A. DE C.V. in Zacatecas. It will start producing engine parts and die-cast parts including transmission cases for Nissan and Jatco in the autumn of 2007. The Company aims to strengthen the competitiveness through the complementary production with the Ohio plant in USA and to have sales of 3 billion JPY in FY2008. The investment amount until FY2009 is 6.6 billion JPY. |
■Calsonic Kansei: Plans to transfer the production of piece parts from USA to Mexico
| Calsonic Kansei transfers some of the production of the piece parts manufactured in USA of which costs can be reduced by producing in Mexico to the Mexican plant step by step when models are changed, as a part of promotion to streamline the North American business (including the effect to reduce the logistical costs to USA). The Company is also considering streamlining by merging its Mexican controlling company and two production companies. |
■Kiriu: Acquires Nissan's cylinder block casting business, also starts producing brake parts
| In April 2006 Kiriu acquired Nissan's Lerma casting plant and established KIRIU MEXICANA S.A. DE C.V. The casting capacity is 2,500 tons per month and the machining capacity is 200,000 per month. It supplies cylinder block casting materials to Nissan. The Company will establish machining facilities for brake discs and drums to the plant by the end of first half of 2007 (Kiriu has been supplying brake discs and drums to Mexico Nissan). |
■Tachi-S: Expands the production of seats from equivalent of 300K vehicles to 550K vehicles and supplies to Nissan and Honda
| Tachi-S expands the production of seats from the current equivalent of 300,000 vehicles to 500,000 vehicles in FY2007 and 550,000 vehicles in FY2008 by investing 1.2 billion JPY into Industria de Asiento Superior S.A. de C.V. in Aguascalientes. The Company supplies those goods to Nissan's Versa/Sentra as well as Honda's CR-V that Honda will start manufacturing in Mexico in the autumn of 2007. |
■Toyo Tire and Rubber: Supplies anti-vibration rubber to Nissan Sentra by entrusting the production to the Mexican plant of Woco of Germany
| Toyo Tire and Rubber won a contract from Nissan for anti-vibration rubber for the Sentra. The Company started supplying the products in October 2006 by entrusting the production to the Mexican plant of Woco of Germany with which the Company has business partnership in Europe (as Toyo Tire and Rubber's Kentucky plant in USA doesn't have enough room to accept new contracts). The received order is a little over 2 million per year and worth several hundred million JPY. |
■Nifco: Plans to construct a new plant to produce plastic parts
| Nifco plans to construct a new plant in Mexico and to start the operation in FY2007 to supply plastic parts such as fasteners to Japanese automobile manufacturers. (Nifco has produced products such as cup holders by entrusting the production to a manufacturer in Chihuahua, Mexico) |
■Harada Industry: Increases the production of radio antennas for Ford and DaimlerChrysler
| Harada Industry's Mexican production base HARADA INDUSTRIES (MEXICO), S.A. DE C.V. increases the production of radio antennas for Ford and DaimlerChrysler. This is to supply the antennas taking the place of Ward Products LLC in Michigan, which terminated the production and filed for Chapter 11, Title 11 of the U.S. Code. The Company starts the full-scale production in 2007. The sales of the increased amount is expected to reach 6.5 billion JPY in FY2007-FY2009. |
■Bridgestone: Builds a new plant for carbon black and starts producing in autumn 2008
| Bridgestone establishes MEXICO CARBON MANUFACTURING SA DE C.V. and starts producing carbon black, which is added to tires as a reinforcement material, in June 2008. This is the third production base for carbon black following Japan and Thailand. The annual production capacity is approximately 35,000 tons. The capital is approximately 6.6 billion JPY and the total investment amount is approximately 8.9 billion JPY. |
Resources: PR information from the companies and media coverage
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