Japanese housewares molder Iris Ohyama Inc. is investing at least $33 million in a new molding plant in Arizona, its third in the United States, to meet growing demand.
The Sendai, Japan-based company plans to open the 280,000-square-foot manufacturing, distribution and research space in the city of Surprise, Ariz., in December, with a total investment of between $33 million and $40 million, according to local economic development officials.
The company will manufacture plastic storage boxes there, along with dedicating research and development space for its businesses in commercial LED lighting, housewares, pet supplies and other products, city officials said in a Feb. 17 announcement. They said the facility would employ 100.
Iris Ohyama declined to make additional comments, with a staff member in its Pleasant Prairie, Wis. U.S. headquarters saying that Iris USA President Chet Keizer was not doing media interviews.
The company currently has manufacturing and distribution facilities in Pleasant Prairie and Mesquite, Texas, and sells its products to retailers throughout North America.
In a 2009 interview with Plastics News, the company said it was buying 50 JSW all-electric injection molding machines for the Wisconsin and Texas factories.
Globally, the firm has 5,000 employees, with eight factories in Japan, four manufacturing sites and a retail store in China, and manufacturing and distribution facilities in the Netherlands and South Korea, according to its website.
It entered the U.S. market in 1996 with manufacturing and warehouse space in Stockton, California, but closed that in 2006 because of a “dramatic shift” in its customer base in the Western U.S., the company said on its website.