IAC (International Automotive Components) Group Business Report FY ended Dec. 2017
Financial Strategy
-The Company announced it has secured new financing commitments that significantly strengthen its balance sheet and enhances its financial flexibility. As part of the recapitalization, the Company will issue USD 215 million of Senior Secured Notes due April 2023 to funds managed by Gamut Capital Management (Gamut), a New York-based middle market private equity firm. Gamut will also acquire a minority equity interest in the Company and nominate representatives to the board. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close prior to the end of April. (From a press release on April 6, 2018)
Financial Overview
-In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, the Company had sales of approximately USD 4.4 billion.
Joint Ventures
-Shanghai Shenda Co., Ltd. (Shenda), and the Company have officially closed a joint venture transaction, forming Auria Solutions, Ltd. (Auria) - a new global supplier of soft trim and acoustical products for the automotive industry. Shenda has acquired a 70 percent stake in the joint venture and the Company maintains a 30 percent interest. The U.K.-based Auria will have its regional headquarters in Southfield, Mich., USA, and Dusseldorf, Germany, and will operate 21 manufacturing facilities and four technical centers in 10 countries along with operational control of three joint ventures across China, South Africa and the US. The company will employ approximately 7,000 people and will supply all of the world’s global automakers, as well as several regional manufacturers. Auria’s automotive product lines will include highly-engineered soft trim and acoustical solutions focused on creating the comfortable automotive interior environment customers demand. (From a press release on September 15, 2017)
Restructuring
-APM Automotive (APM) announced that Auto Parts Holdings (APH), its wholly owned subsidiary, has completed the acquisition of 40% of the total issued and paid-up share capital of APM IAC Automotive Systems (APM IAC) held by the Company on May 31, 2016. Consequential to the above, APM IAC has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of APM. APM IAC was incorporated on November 25 2011 as a joint venture vehicle when APH and the Company entered into a joint venture agreement on November 1 2011 for the purpose of joint participation in the manufacture and sale of automotive interior plastic components and systems to the domestic and international OEMs in Malaysia. This acquisition is aimed towards giving the APM Group a better competitive edge as it would be able to offer complete interior solutions to both local and overseas customers. (From a press release on May 30, 2016)
Contracts
-The Company’s products are featured in nine of the Ward’s 10 Best Interiors award winners for 2016. The vehicle models featuring the Company’s products are as follows:
- BMW 7-Series: Overhead/headliner, soft trim, acoustics insulation
- Cadillac XT5: Overhead/headliner
- Chevrolet Camaro: Instrument panel, overhead/headliner, door panels, console
- Chrysler Pacifica: Overhead/headliner, soft trim
- Honda Civic: Acoustic insulation
- Lexus RX: Overhead/headliner
- Mercedes-Benz GLC: Soft trim and acoustic insulation
- Nissan Maxima: Door panels and overhead/headliner
- Volvo XC90: Instrument panel and door panels
(From a press release on May 9, 2016)
-The Company has launched its FiberFrame lightweight, natural fiber sun roof frame on the 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. The innovation is made of 70% renewable raw material content and provides up to 50% in weight savings compared to conventional metal-reinforced steel sunroof frames. FiberFrame began production in November 2015 at the Company's Center of Excellence for overhead products in Prestice, Czech Republic. The Company also produces the headliner, the outer-rear wheel house liner, inner wheel house cover and rear seat cover for the vehicle. (From a press release on April 4, 2016)
-An emerging trend for premium vehicles is the prevalence of superior craftsmanship within the interior. The Company has supported this trend by providing components and systems for European SUVs. The Company provides leather and vinyl wrapped instrument panels and center consoles for the "Range Rover Evoque" and "Discovery Sport". The Company also supplies the instrument panel, door panels, pillars, luggage trim, concealing panels, and complete cockpit for the Volvo "XC90". (From a press release on March 18, 2015)
Awards
-The Company announced that it has won two 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Innovation Awards in the Body Interior category. The IAC Coreback injection molding process used to produce the 2017 MINI Countryman subcompact SUV instrument panel carrier has been recognized for its lightweight features and the caster-based BIO Foam beneath the 2018 Ford Fusion instrument panel triumphed as a sustainable innovation. (From a press release on November 20, 2017)
-The Company’s FiberFrame product was selected as a finalist in the 2017 PACE Awards program. The FiberFrame system replaces the sunroof’s metal reinforcement frame with a lighter frame that uses natural fibers featuring a material comprised of 70% renewable content while still improving the frame’s structural rigidity. (From a press release on October 28, 2016)
R&D Facilities
-The Company has a total of 19 design, technical and commercial centers distributed around the world.
Product Development
HybridFleece Molding process
-The Company announced that its advanced technology HybridFleece Molding scored impressively against conventional processes in the environmental balance from the Institute for Biopolymers and Biocomposites (IfBB) from the University for Applied Sciences of Hannover, Germany. HybridFleece Molding is a unique process for combining the pressing of a thermoplastic mixed fiber fleece from a natural fiber, glass or recycled carbon fiber with the molding of stiffening ribs and clips into a one-step process in the same molding tool without the need for additional welding or gluing. In order to compare HybridFleece Molding with conventional processes, the Company produced a door carrier concept and tested it against the serial SUV product it delivers to an OEM customer. In the present case, the concept door carrier delivers a mass reduction of 35% and 40% less emissions over the course of its lifetime. (From a press release on February 15, 2016)
Investment outside Luxembourg
-The Company announced that it officially opened its state-of-the-art plant for tailored interiors in Opole, Poland. The Company has invested more than USD 20 million into the new location, which will cover an area of over 27,000 square meters at its completion. The new location will serve as the company’s center of excellence for highly crafted cut-and-sewn and hand-wrapped components, starting with premium instrument panels. The new operation will create about 550 skilled jobs in the region. (From a press release on October 25, 2017)
- The Company announced that it officially opened its state-of-the-art plant for premium door panels in Prestice, Czech Republic. The new location will be the Company’s third operation in Prestice and will add 800 more skilled jobs to the 1,300 already employed by the Company in the area. The Company has invested over USD 40 million into the new facility, which covers an area of more than 32,560 square meters. The flawless launch of a 600,000 unit per year door panel program in the new site is a strong foundation to pursue further growth in the region. (From a press release on March 8, 2018)
-The Company announced that its new Prestice 2 production facility in Prestice, Czech Republic, is fully operational and has started producing its unique, lightweight injection molded inner dash insulation. The insulation provides superior interior acoustical performance and is supplied to two premium European OEM customers. With the start of a major door trim program in the future, the facility is expected to reach full capacity in 2018. The new 18,000-square-meter facility currently produces trunk trim and dash insulation components for the Opel Astra. The Company’s injection molded dash inner provides an estimated 40% weight reduction compared to a conventional vacuum-formed product. (From a press release on July 12, 2016)
-The Company announced the opening of its first South American plant in Itatiaia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The new 4,500-square-meter facility is expected to employ between 40 and 50 people when production reaches full capacity. It assembles and delivers highly crafted cockpits to Jaguar Land Rover do Brasil to support the production of the 2017 Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque premium SUVs. IAC Itatiaia assembles cockpit components provided by five of the Company’s United Kingdom (UK) facilities, which are located in Halewood, Elmdon, Sunderland, Scunthorpe and Coleshill. (From a press release on June 15, 2016)
-In October 2015, the Company announced the inauguration of a new manufacturing facility, Shanghai IAC-Songjiang Automotive Carpet and Acoustics Co., Ltd., located in Tianjin, China. The 5,200-square-meter (56,000 square feet) facility will employ more than 180 people and will manufacture vehicle flooring and acoustics systems and headliners, for Mercedes-Benz vehicles, including "GLC", "GLA", "C-Class" and "E-Class" models. The facility is scheduled to expand by another 4,300 square meters in 2016. (From a press release on October 22, 2015)
-On July 2015, the Company announced that it has established a new plant in Hangzhou, China. The plant was constructed on a 7,300-square-meter plot near the region’s logistics hub. It will employ 220 people, and will initially produce door panels and center console assemblies for Changan Ford, door trim components for SAIC GM, and instrument panels and center console components for Chery Jaguar Land Rover. (From a press release on July 15, 2015)
-In September 2015, the Company announced the expansion of its manufacturing footprint in support of customers in the United Kingdom. Company officials first dedicated a 6,700-square-meter (72,500 square feet) manufacturing facility, which complements the Company’s current Halewood operation. Production lines for headliner, center console and overhead system assembly have moved to the new facility, allowing for space in the first plant to enhance instrument panel and cockpit production and support increased complexity and production volumes. Company officials in the same day followed on with the dedication of a new 12,500-square-meter (135,000 square feet) facility in Elmdon near Birmingham, which hosts manufacturing, a design & technical center, and UK regional administrative functions. IAC Elmdon delivers instrument panel components and other interior hard trim components to IAC Halewood. The addition of these two facilities extends the Company’s capability to support its domestic and Asian OEM customers from five locations across the UK. IAC has increased the number of employees in the UK from approximately 700 in 2007 to over 2,200 today. (From a press release on September 21, 2015)
-On May 2015, the Company inaugurated its new manufacturing operation in Arteaga, Mexico. With the addition of the new 8,361-square-meter (90,000 square feet) Arteaga operation, the Company now has eight manufacturing sites in Mexico. The new IAC Arteaga plant, which currently employs approximately 320 people, will serve as a dedicated center of expertise for compression bonded cut, sewn and wrapped automotive interior components, including instrument panels, door panels, floor consoles, armrests and bolsters. (From a press release on May 26, 2015)