Japanese Piolax to Expand the Plant in Georgia State (U.S.)

     Piolax will expand the plant in Georgia State in January 2020 and will start checking automotive hose clamps and metal fasteners on its own. It will invest JPY 300 million on a land spanning 13 thousand square meters and a building of 3,000 square meters. The check that is currently outsourced will be transferred to this building. The company is likely to increasing capacity and therefore it will consider adopting an automated production line. Labor costs in Georgia State are rising and Trump's trade policies are undermining the transparency in the business environment, so the company wants to harness the power of automation to establish a system that can reduce labor costs and increase capacity.

     Back in 2018 when the trade friction between the U.S. and China tensioned, Piolax transferred partial manufacture of automotive components (made in Dongguan City of China and exported to the U.S.) to its plant in the U.S., so currently there is not enough space in the U.S. plant. In the future, the company will adopt automatic inspection equipment to avoid shortage of labor.