Aisin Chemical Indiana Celebrates Ground Breaking of New Plant

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence joined Aisin Holdings of America President and CEO, Masayasu “Mike” Saito in the ground breaking of the new Aisin Chemical Indiana plant in Crothersville on August 6, 2014. The new Aisin Chemical Indiana plant (ACIN) will rest on 39 acres of land and will include a 100,000 square foot plant.

The event festivities began at 10:30 a.m., beginning with speeches and the ceremonial ground breaking. A check was presented for $3,000 for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) programs operated by the Seymour Police Department and Crothersville Community Schools.

“We are proving once again Indiana is open for business. This is a company that’s on the move,” Governor Pence stated during the ceremony.

According to Masayuki Isogami, president of Aisin Chemical Indiana, the new facility is set to open by June 2015 and 100 jobs are estimated to be created by 2017. The plant will focus on creating wet friction materials for automatic transmissions, liquid applied sound dampening and anti-corrosion paint.

“ACIN executives dig into the dirt at the Aisin Chemical of Indiana, signifying the official groundbreaking of the new plant.”

Aisin celebrates new North American headquarters

Some 300 customers, community members, media, business leaders and government officials, including Nigel Francis, representing Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation attended the official grand opening of the North American headquarters of Aisin World Corp. of America and Aisin Technical Center of America on July 14.

Afternoon festivities included speeches by Aisin executives, the MEDC's Francis, and Northville Township Supervisor Bob Nix, who gratefully accepted a donation of $50,000 from AWA CEO Mike Saito for construction of a new pavilion at Northville Community Park.

"We are all connected by cars," Saito-san told the group assembled under the large, white tent. "We provide many kinds of products, systems and technologies for the automotive industry. We are also connected by a strong principle. That principle is 'Quality First' - which is part of our DNA at Aisin."

Saito-san told the group that Aisin will continue its pursuit of excellence in manufacturing to ensure a positive future for the automotive society, as well maintaining its role as a community leader.

"Mike Saito, Yoshi Kato and John Koenig immerse themselves in Japanese culture at the Aisin grand opening by playing the Taiko drums."

"Being a good neighbor is important to Aisin companies around the world," he said. "Whether we are planting flowers and trees on Mt. Fuji, or cleaning up the Rouge River, we believe in supporting our communities, and always being a good corporate citizen.

The grand opening event provided one of the first opportunities for ATC-A President Yoshi Kato to address a large gathering. Kato-san told the group he thought they'd be impressed with the growing number of Aisin components that, in many cases, are refined here at ATC-A.

"We are proud of the growing responsibilities that ATC-A has transferred from Aisin Seiki, and also extremely proud of the growing confidence of our customers here in the Americas," said Kato-san.

"When ATC-A was established, its main objective was to quickly establish an independent and capable development team for our region. It has done so and I wish to acknowledge the successful efforts of the ATC-A presidents that came before me - Uchimoto-san and Aoyama-san - who helped accomplish those goals."

The event was well-received by attendees, who enjoyed traditional Aisin hospitality, and entertainment by the Michigan Philharmonic of Plymouth, and the Raion Taiko Drummers from Novi.

Auto show season prep in full swing. Next stop: Paris

Just as the sights and sounds of back-to-school signal the start of fall, the increasing auto show chatter around the office is a sure sign of the change of seasons.

First up: the 2015 Paris Motor Show , officially – Mondial de l’ Automobile – which opens its doors to the world’s press Oct. 2-3, 2014, followed by more than a million auto enthusiasts.

“Paris” is considered one of the top shows in the world along with Detroit, Frankfurt, Geneva, Tokyo and Beijing/Shanghai. Like Tokyo and Frankfurt, the show alternates every fall. (Detroit and Geneva occur every year.)

Aisin Seiki will once again participate in the Paris show with an exhibit and product display in centrally-located Pavilion 3, the same hall as Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Isuzu.

The Paris show is similar to Frankfurt or Shanghai shows in arrangement and comprises a dozen or so pavilions on a sprawling fairgrounds area known as the Parc des Expositions. Once Paris comes to an end, it’s “all eyes on Detroit,” according to Rod Alberts, executive director of Detroit’s North American International Auto Show.

Alberts says the overall footprint of NAIAS is smaller compared to the Paris show. But, he says, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“Our show has a warmth about it, and a boutique feel,” says Alberts. “You can sense it the moment you walk on to the show floor – you’ve got more press gathered than just about any show in the world, mixing with executives of some of the most important corporations in the world – all at the same party, all in the same room. It’s hard to create that chemistry or environment when you’re in too large a hall or spread over 10-12 buildings.”

And, in the end, Alberts says, that’s one of the features that helps make the NAIAS experience such a strategically important one to exhibitors and media

As for Aisin, it returns to NAIAS for the third consecutive year, this time with a new exhibit and in a new location against the north wall of Cobo Center adjacent to General Motors. The location of the Aisin exhibit at NAIAS 2015 should result in better traffic flow and visibility.

Aisin’s internal NAIAS Steering Committee – comprised of AWA, ATC-A and Aisin Seiki PR – has been meeting regularly for several months to ensure the best, possible exhibit and product display.

Mark your calendars for NAIAS 2015: Press Preview, Jan. 12-13; Industry Preview, Jan. 14-15; Charity Preview, Jan. 16; and Public Show, Jan. 17-25.

Advertising effort leads to increased awareness

“The Aisin billboard is located around four different areas in the city of Detroit, helping Aisin gain some attention.”

Aisin advertising activity has increased in recent weeks in support of the company’s participation at ITS World Congress at Detroit’s Cobo Center. Four highway billboards and two print ads in Automotive News were utilized to help raise awareness of Aisin products and technology related to intelligent transportation. The billboards were located in Metro Detroit on I-94, I-275 and I-75. The two print ads appeared in the Sept. 1 and 8 editions of Automotive News. The ads included the Aisin demo car as a focal point, with the headlines: “What’s Driving Your Car?” and “Beauty and Brains.”