Arkansas Lands Quartet of Toyota Tier Suppliers

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Things are looking up for Arkansas in the automotive arena. In less than a year, four automotive tier suppliers have announced plans for new facilities to be built in Arkansas's Delta area. Some are presently under construction,.

Hino Motors (OTC:HINOY) (Tokyo, Japan) has recently announced that it will locate a plant in Marion, in northeastern Arkansas, just across the river from Memphis, Tennessee (Plant 1063556) (PEC 20000936). Specific details of the project have not been released at this writing, but the company has said it will make an announcement in July concerning the square footage of the plant, number of employees, and total investment dollars. Industrialinfo.com will follow this project and report these details as they are released. However, several sources have said that Hino will employ 500-600 workers. The new plant will be located on 160 acres, just west of I-55, and north of I-40, on County Road 118, in what is at the present time an agricultural area, near a site that was recently passed over by Toyota, when it opted last year to build its newest truck assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas (Plant 1059632) (PEC 01009223).

For the present time, Hino will make diesel engine parts for Toyota trucks, but there is conjecture that either Hino or Toyota will build a full-blown truck assembly plant on an adjacent site in 2007 or earlier - the erstwhile 1,400-acre Toyota site is still available. Hino exports 2,000 trucks a year to the U.S. The company recently announced plans to begin production of a new 2005 model truck line in November at its Long Beach, California, plant, pursuant to its goals of gaining 10 percent of the U.S. mid-size truck market by 2010, thus fuelling conjecture of a new truck assembly plant adjacent to Hino's new parts plant in Marion. Toyota, it is rumored, is also contemplating another truck plant in the U.S. Whether a possible assembly plant would be in Arkansas, or whether Hino or Toyota, remains to be seen. Toyota is saying nothing at this time.

Hino Motors manufactures medium- and heavy-duty diesel trucks, as well as buses, special-purpose vehicles, and industrial and marine diesel engines. Hino dominates Japan's domestic truck market, including such competitors as Mitsubishi Motors and Isuzu Motors. Hino Motors also makes vehicles for Toyota Motor Company on a consignment basis. Toyota owns 51 percent of Hino. The other three suppliers recently announcing new construction in Arkansas are also closely-related to Toyota in the traditional Japanese keiretsu relationship.

In July 2003, Denso Corporation (OTC:DNZOY) (Kariya, Aichi, Japan) revealed plans to build a $35 million, 217,000 square foot automotive air conditioning parts and heavy equipment radiator manufacturing plant in Osceola (Plant 1069311) (PEC 20000869), on which construction began later in the year. Completion is expected by the end of 2004, and production will begin in early 2005. Heery Construction International (Atlanta) was chosen as the A&E firm, and its Dallas office will handle the actual construction. Denso plans to employ 500 workers.

Sakae Riken Kogyo Company (Nishikasugai, Aichi, Japan), for its U.S. subsidiary Eakas Corporation (Peru, Illinois) (Plant 1062149), began construction earlier this year on a $15 million, 91,000 square foot plant on 46.35 acres on AR-1, in Cross County, just south of Wynne, which will be known as Eakas Arkansas (Plant 1062141) (PEC 20000895). Eakas Arkansas will produce door handles, mirrors, and other interior and exterior plastic injection molded parts for Toyota and other OEMs. Construction began in March and is expected to be complete in December, for production start-up in March 2005.

Systex Products Corporation (Battle Creek, Michigan), a joint venture between Shimizu Industry Company (Tokyo, Japan), Inoac Corporation (Troy, Michigan), and Cascade Engineering USA (Grand Rapids, Michigan), began construction on a $12.5 million plant in Osceola in December 2003 (Plant 1063109), and expects construction completion in October of this year. The plant, to be known as Systex Arkansas Products, will eventually employ 40 workers at this location. The plant is located just across the road from the new Denso Arkansas plant. Systex will provide injection molded plastic parts for automotive HVAC systems for Denso. Full production is scheduled for first quarter of 2005.