Japanese auto supplier Sanko Gosei expands into the US

Sanko Gosei Technologies USA Inc. has broken into U.S. manufacturing, marking the opening of its new facility in Fort Wayne, Ind., with a traditional Kagami-Biraki ceremony.

The company's parent, Sanko Gosei Ltd., of Toyama, Japan, purchased the assets of automotive supplier Bhar Inc. on May 1 and spent months transforming the 100,000-square-foot facility into a custom molding plant.

“They kept the same employees and the same facility and put their stamp on it,” said Jeff Baker, vice president of sales for Sanko Gosei.

Laurence Tabner is the new CEO of the U.S. subsidiary.

The Kagami-Biraki ceremony, which translates in English to “opening the mirror,” is a 300-year-old Japanese tradition of cracking open a barrel to signify the start of a successful endeavor. Officials of the company used wooden mallets to crack open the top of a wooden sake barrel. Sanko Gosei President Kenso Kurodal, Senior Director Amen Kusumi and about 50 invited guests partook in the festivities.

Sanko Gosei Ltd., a supplier of injection mold tooling and injected molded parts was founded in 1940 in Japan and has 19 production sites in 11 different countries. It has about 2,000 employees.

The Fort Wayne plant has 20 injection molding machines ranging in tonnage from 200 to 3,000. It also has 150 employees. Bahr was founded in 1976.

Baker, who formerly worked for Bahr, said that the aim is to build a U.S. facility that can serve as a Tier 1 supplier to Honda, Toyota, and other Japanese automotive companies.

Sanko Gosei has added in-house tooling capacity to the facility and will continue to add machinery as the need arises.