MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tigers Polymer will launch new plants in the U.S. and Thailand by this autumn to expand the lineup and boost the output of its automobile components, said Asia.nikkei.
The Japanese manufacturer of molded resin and rubber parts for autos, home appliances and construction expects to complete the plants by the end of February. The investment is expected to reach just over 2 billion yen (USD17.9 million).
The new U.S. plant with floor space of about 6,500 sq. meters is being built at the site of the company's existing plant in the state of Ohio at a cost of roughly 1.3 billion yen. This new plant, which will have production lines that can handle both injection and blow molding methods, is to sharply increase the company's capacity for car engine air-cleaner modules.
Tigers Polymer's existing U.S. plants have been operating at full capacity. The company's components are being adopted by an expanding range of vehicles manufactured by Japanese automakers in North America.
"In the U.S., new-car sales have been solid as gasoline prices have been falling," said Harunobu Genda, director of the Japanese parent. "Furthermore, we expect demand for cars there to increase steadily."
In Thailand, a plant with 10,000 sq. meters of floor space is going up in a vacant section of the site occupied by a manufacturing unit in Ayutthaya Province. The new plant, Tigers Polymer's fourth production base in the Southeast Asian country, will make air conditioning ducts. The facility also will absorb the manufacturing operations from the company's first Thai plant, whose productivity has suffered from a series of incremental expansions.
Domestic demand for cars has been weak, but vehicle exports from Thailand remain high. The company sees room for further growth in Thailand as a production base. Tigers Polymer is already the No. 1 supplier of blow-mold products to Japanese companies in Thailand, but it hopes to win more orders by expanding its product line, raising productivity and bolstering cost competitiveness, all with the establishment of the new plant.
The company, whose shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, counts molded resin autoparts and hoses for home appliances and construction as its main products. It has added foreign production bases over the years to keep up with the business expansion of Honda Motor, its main customer.
As it was informed earlier, Honda Motor Company is planning to increase production of its partially or fully electric vehicles (EVs) to account for two-third of the global sales by 2030.
Tigers Polymer now generates more than 50% of sales outside Japan. Group sales for the current year ending in March are projected to reach 41 billion yen.
MRC