Plastic Omnium boosts work in advanced auto parts with press, acquisition

Plastic Omnium SA is accelerating its strategy to supply advanced exterior auto parts by adding new equipment and buying a lighting supplier.

In two separate announcements just four days apart, the French molder and auto supplier said it was buying a new press for advanced parts and buying Germany's Automotive Lighting Systems GmbH.

Plastic Omnium is investing about 3 million euros ($3.3 million) to install a 2,700-ton dual-compound press at its exterior component research and development center near Lyon, France.

The company plans to use the equipment to work with automakers to design exterior body components, a March 21 news release said.

"The press is designed to allow two materials to be injected simultaneously, making it possible to produce parts with larger transparent surfaces than current products," the release said. "This opens new possibilities for automotive manufacturers that are looking for ways to integrate lighting and sensors into exterior body parts."

The automotive supplier partnered with ARaymond, a supplier of fastening and assembly products, and Cetim, a mechanical industry technical center to develop features like signaling, radar, lidar and optical sensors that can be integrated with Plastic Omnium's production process.

The investment includes the press and associated finishing like painting, decorating and assembling, the release said. It was partially covered by a subsidy from the Innovative Materials and Design for Intelligent Body Panels project supported by BPI, a French public investment bank.

Plastic Omnium has also agreed to acquire Munich-based Automotive Lighting Systems GmbH for $71.5 million (65 million euros).

"The acquisition of AMLS will be paid in cash, with no additional financing arrangements required," a March 25 news release said.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter 2022, it said.

"AMLS offers the technological brick that will provide Plastic Omnium with cutting-edge expertise in lighting technologies, electronics, and software to develop innovative smart lighting solutions for the automotive industry," the release said.

"Thanks to its advanced product portfolio, strong expertise, balanced footprint, and the quality of its team, this acquisition will allow Plastic Omnium to accelerate its ambitious strategy to meet growing OEM customer demand for smart body car parts and opens up the potential to enter new market segments," Laurent Favre, CEO of Plastic Omnium, said in the release.

AMLS, an independent business within AMS Osram's automotive business unit, generated $162.7 million (148 million euros) in sales in 2021 and has about 770 employees, the release said.

"The combination of Plastic Omnium and AMLS makes perfect sense," Dirk Linzmeier, managing director of AMLS said in the release. "Our portfolios are highly complementary, together we expect to expand our market access and we share a similar mission and mindset. We look forward to joining Plastic Omnium to establish a strong mobility lighting player built on AMLS' portfolio of innovative technologies."

AMLS supplies lighting systems for front lighting, interior lighting, projection and body shell lighting applications, the release said. Its products are manufactured in 3 locations in the United States, China, and Italy and it has five research and development facilities.

Plastic Omnium did not respond to inquiries for comment by Plastics News.

The company has 137 plants, 31 R&D centers and 30,000 employees. In North America, Plastic Omnium Auto Exteriors LLC, based in Troy, Mich., is No. 21 in Plastics News' ranking of injection molders in the region with an estimated $400 million in sales.