After setting up new vehicle interior components production facilities in Laos and China, Japanese automotive components manufacturer Toyota Boshoku is now setting up an interior components company in Thailand. This company will be established by Asian regional management hub, Toyota Boshoku Asia Co., Ltd.

The new automotive interior components production company, Boshoku Automotive (Thailand) Co., Ltd., will supply interior components, filter and powertrain components in Thailand.

An investment of approximately $18 million was made to set up the new automotive interior company with the aim of expanding production capacity to support nearby automotive manufacturers. The company will start production of silencers and other interior components in the latter half of 2014 and with the aim to expand future business to include seats and door trim, will be set up to flexibly handle individual component orders.

Boshoku Automotive (Thailand) will be formally established in Rayong province in November 2013 and headed by Yoshitsugu Tanaka. By 2016 a workforce of approximately 80 will manufacture automotive interior components including silencers, package trays and luggage mats in a 14,000 square-meter building on a site of 64,000 square-meters.

This Thai investment comes on the heels of Toyota Boshoku’s Chinese regional management hub Toyota Boshoku (China) Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Automobile Group Component Co., Ltd. (GACC) jointly establishing a new vehicle interior components production company, Heyuan Toyota Boshoku Automotive Parts Co., Ltd. in Heyuan City, Guangdong province, China.

Heyuan Toyota Boshoku Automotive Parts serves as a satellite complementing the Toyota Boshoku group in the Guangzhou area. It began producing interior components such as seat covers just this month and is supplying them to Guangzhou Intex Auto Parts who produces seats. Seats assembled at Guangzhou Intex Auto Parts will be supplied to GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd.

By setting up the new companies, the Toyota Boshoku group is looking to improve cost competitiveness and optimize production and distribution in key Asian markets as automotive production continues to move to this area. Starting with its main customer Toyota Motor Corporation, the parent company is aggressively expanding new business with global automotive manufacturers.

Toyota Boshoku group is one of the world’s premier interior systems suppliers and filter manufacturers. It develops and produces interior components, filtration and power train components at about 100 sites in 26 countries around the world. During the fiscal period ending in March of 2013, the firm had consolidated sales of approximately $13 billion, and operating income of roughly $30 million. Its subsidiary, Toyota Boshoku Asia was established in Thailand in June 2001 and is a leading manufacturer of automotive seating and interior components with 22 production sites in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries throughout the Asian region.

Tim Wright
Editor
[email protected]