Stampings Specialist Gestamp Expands to Japan

Automotive supplier Gestamp opens its first plant in Japan to manufacture highly engineered metal body-in-white components for domestic OEMs starting with Honda.

The Gestamp Hot Stamping Japan facility in Matsusaka, Mie prefecture, involves an initial investment of more than €40 million ($45.5 million) and will employ about 60 people by year’s end. More could be added as Gestamp obtains new customers, the company says in a news release.

The new facility has a medium hot-stamping line of 1,200 tons, built by equipment manufacturer Loire Gestamp, a Gestamp Group affiliate. The plant will provide full-service hot stamping capabilities as it also includes laser-cutting cells and shot blasting equipment, Gestamp says.

Gestamp already is active in the Japanese market through its R&D center in Tokyo, opened last year, and technical and commercial teams supporting its Japanese clients. The Japanese factory is the 22nd market in which the company has an industrial presence; Gestamp already supplies Japanese automakers’ plants in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

“Gestamp’s strategy is always to accompany our customers and we are proud to be here in Japan, as this proximity will allow us to better serve Japanese OEMs in an efficient, innovative and competitive market,” Executive Chairman Francisco Riberas says at the plant’s opening ceremony.

“Gestamp wants to be present in Japan to support and co-develop the car of the future with our Japanese customers, adding value through our state-of-the-art technology, especially via hot stamping to reduce weight and increase safety.”

Gestamp has 108 manufacturing plants and four under construction, operates 13 R&D centers and employees more than 41,000 people worldwide.