Amino Corporation Opens its First North American Hydroforming Facility

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Amino Corporation (Fujinomiya, Shizuoka, Japan) will open its first North American automotive body panel fluid forming (sheet hydroforming) plant located in Saint Thomas, Ontario (Plant 1060214). The company will be known as Amino North America Corporation (ANAC). ANAC bought the 30,000 square foot stamping facility in Saint Thomas in 2002, and let it sit idle for several months, while it completed renovation plans. The company is now awaiting several hydroforming presses and other equipment, which are being made at, and shipped from their parent company in Japan. Renovation of the building was completed at the end of 2003, and production for the 2005 model year will begin this summer in September. An expansion being done now (primarily for parts storage & shipping) is expected to be open in October.

The ANAC building was formerly a Magna tube hydroforming and stamping plant, which suited ANAC's needs perfectly. Amino also has first option to buy five acres adjacent to its seven acres, if it decides to expand, which they have indicated could happen within the next four years, to increase production. Corporate management has also expressed a desire to build an R&D and testing facility at some time in the not-too-distant future.

The plant stamps body parts, such as fenders and trunk panels, and plans to make 150,000 to 250,000 parts annually, beginning in September of this year. The Saint Thomas plant will use ANAC's fluid forming (steel sheet hydroforming) technology, which it has perfected over thirty years, to produce body panels for specialty & niche vehicles. It will also make fenders for General Motors' Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant (Plant 1038866 & 1038865). The highly automated plant will initially hire twenty employees, which could triple within the next couple of years.

The Amino Corporation was established in 1930 and holds more than 200 registered patents in the field of plasticity and press technology. It designs and makes presses, hydraulic and mechanical equipment, and other hydroforming equipment and machinery.