Arkansas state officials and Denso Corp. of Kariya, Japan, on Thursday marked the official grand opening of the auto parts manufacturer’s Osceola plant, which will employ about 500 when production reaches full capacity by 2008.
The plant, which now employs 360 and has been operating some lines since the beginning of the year, manufactures heating and air conditioning components for the automotive industry and radiators for the heavy-equipment industry. Denso Manufacturing Arkansas Inc. is owned by Denso Corp. unit Denso International America Inc. It is the company’s 23rd North American plant.
Attending the grand opening were Gov. Mike Huckabee, Osceola Mayor Dickie Kennemore, Consulate General of Japan Masaru Sakato, Denso Corp. President and CEO Koichi Fukaya, Denso International America President and CEO Matt Matsushita, and DMAR President Jerry McGuire.
McGuire said he wanted the plant to be an example for what other employers could do in the region.
“I’ve seen the collaboration and entrepreneurial spirit of northeast Arkansas firsthand, and that has been instrumental in our success,” he said. “Our mission is to be the model of what northeast Arkansas has to offer.”
Denso’s global sales reached $26.2 billion during the most recent fiscal year. The company has North American headquarters in Southfield, Mich.
Plans for the 217,000-SF, $35 million plant were announced in 2003. It is the first of what Arkansas economic development officials hope is an auto recruiting boom for the region. Since 2003, Systex Products Corp. of Battle Creek, Mich., announced it would build a manufacturing plant in Osceola to produce plastic injection-molding parts for automobile HVAC systems produced by Denso. And Hino Motors Ltd. has begun building a 400,000-SF, $160 million auto parts plant in Marion. It is expected to begin production in October 2006 and initially employ about 280.
On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal quoted a Hino executive as saying the company plans to build another plant in Marion by 2008 to build 3,000 to 4,000 medium-duty trucks per year for parent company Toyota Motor Corp.
Officials at the governor’s office and the state Department of Economic Development said they could not confirm the story. Speaking for the governor, press secretary Alice Stewart said Huckabee has been in contact with Hino officials but has not heard word from them about the new plant. She said it would be up to Hino to make an official announcement about the plant, not the governor’s office.
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