Advics North America Makes Presence Felt In The U.S.

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Aisin Seiki Company, Limited, (Kariya, Aichi, Japan), through its Japanese-based subsidiary, Advics Company, Limited (Japan), has recently established a U.S. Corporation, Advics North America (ANA), with headquarters in Plymouth, Michigan. Advics North America is a joint venture between Aisin Seiki, which owns 40% of the corporation, and Denso Corporation (Japan), Sumitomo Corporation (Japan), and Toyota Motor Corporation (Japan) (NYSE:TM), each owning 20%. Toyota also owns 22% of both Denso and Sumitomo, as well as about 27% of Aisin Seiki. Aisin has more than a dozen plants in the U.S., including at least two aluminum die-casting operations.

Advics North America (ANA) hopes to become the number two brake supplier in the US by 2005. Robert Bosch GmbH (Gerlingen-Schillerhoehe, Germany and Broadview, Illinois), with about $3.6 billion in sales, is number one at the present time. The formation of Advics will put a lot of pressure on brake-manufacturing competitors like Delphi Corporation (Troy, Michigan) (NYSE:DPH), Continental AG (Hanover, Germany) (OTC:CTTAY), and TRW, Incorporated (Livonia, Michigan) (NYSE:TRW), especially now that Advics has won a contract from General Motors (Detroit, Michigan) (NYSE:GM). ANA will produce brake systems equipped with traction control and anti-skid stability management systems.

Advics North America has four plants in the U.S. Aisin Manufacturing Illinois LLC, started producing sunroofs and power sliding door modules in July 2002, and expects to have 250 employees by 2005. Aisin Brake & Chassis, Incorporated, in Crothersville and Terre Haute, Indiana, the latter just completing construction this month and shooting for a production launch date of January 2003. Both plants manufacture brake and chassis components. AW North Carolina, in Durham, North Carolina, assembles automatic transmissions, primarily for Toyota. That plant is presently in the process of installing new equipment and machinery, in order to boost production to 200,000 transmissions per year.

Aisin Seiki Company, Limited, is Japan's largest brake manufacturer and is a major supplier for Toyota and other OEM's. Other products are transmissions, cooling and lubrication systems, doorframes, latches, and car navigation systems. Aisin has subsidiaries throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia.