ABC Inoac grows in Mexico

San Juan Del Río, Mexico — Canadian-Japanese joint venture auto industry supplier ABC Inoac Exterior Systems Inc. has opened its first greenfield facility — a $45 million injection molding plant — in central Mexico.

The company, which is a 50-50 venture between ABC Group Inc. of Toronto and Inoac Corp., of Nagoya, Japan, will make exterior trim parts, including spoilers, for General Motors Co., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. at the plant in San Juan del Río.

The manufacturing area, equipped primarily with Engel presses, covers 188,000 square feet, with another 20,000 square feet for offices.

The plant, ABC Inoac de México SA de CV, 105 miles northwest of Mexico City, becomes the fourth facility operated by ABC Inoac, which formed in 2012. The others — in Toronto, Fremont, Ohio, and Livingston, Tenn. — were existing plants, owned either by ABC or Inoac.

ABC Inoac CEO Angelo Cesta said at a July 12 plant opening ceremony that it will have 300 employees by the time it reaches full production, likely in three years.

Inoac, meanwhile, plans to build its own automotive interiors and foam plant in San Juan del Río. Chuck Little, president and CEO of Inoac USA, said Inoac has purchased 17.2 acres adjacent to the new joint venture plant and “will probably start construction” of its own facility in 2017.

Inoac already operates five manufacturing facilities in Mexico, most of them in Monterrey.

ABC has three manufacturing plants in San Juan del Río and one in nearby Querétaro, according to Mary Anne Bueschkens, ABC Group's CEO, who also spoke at the inauguration. She said the companies are building in Mexico because of the investment there by automakers.

“Since 2009 there have been no additional OEM assembly plants built in the U.S. or Canada, but 10 have been built in Mexico over the same time period, with three more slated over the next few years,” she said.

Bueschkens said the new ABC Inoac investment “isn't simply because of the lower labor costs. It's also because of the highly skilled labor force and the strong manufacturing work ethic that is here and the continued priority that the Mexican government places on its manufacturing growth in the auto sector.”

Cesta said the joint venture has spent $20 million on machinery for the San Juan del Río plant. The facility's injection molding machines will have clamping forces ranging from 900 to 2,500 tons.

“At the moment we have one 2,500-ton press installed,” he said. “The second one, a 2,200-ton machine, will arrive at the end of the month. We have two two-shot machines coming in towards the end of August and then we will have two more coming in December.”

Everything manufactured at the plant will be transported to OEM facilities in Mexico, said Cesta, who declined to discuss ABC Inoac sales and production figures.