Die-Caster Pace Industries Opens New Headquarters in Michigan

NOVI, MI – Die-casting company Pace Industries officially opens its new Novi, MI, global headquarters, after relocating from Fayetteville, AR, two months ago.

Founded in 1970, Pace specializes in aluminum, zinc and magnesium castings for diverse customers, including those in the lighting, appliance, medical and lawn-and-garden sectors, but automotive accounts for 35% of its revenue and it sees “more access to our extensive customer and supply base” with the relocation to the Detroit metro area, says Pace CEO Donald Hampton Jr.

Pace initially plans to employ about 75 staffers at the new Novi office, which houses executive, engineering, sales and marketing functions. A Shared Services Center was established in Fayetteville as part of the relocation process. Pace continues to operate 17 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Mexico.

Hampton joined Pace in June of last year after the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and was acquired by TCW Group and Cerberus Capital Management.

Hampton has extensive leadership experience in metro Detroit, previously serving as president of interiors supplier Faurecia in 2018 and 2019.

In a ceremony last week attended by local and state government dignitaries, Hampton says the company not only has a new building but a “new energy… (as well as) …a new commitment to service to our customers. We understand that growth only happens through customer satisfaction and we must deliver products that exceed our customers’ expectations in order to be successful in today’s competitive environment.”

In a wide-ranging discussion with Wards post ribbon-cutting, Hampton says Pace weathered the past pandemic year better than expected as quarantined Americans spent more time at home and the lawn-and-garden space “skyrocketed” as the homebound bought grills and zero-turn lawnmowers. “We couldn’t make enough for those particular customers. I didn’t see that coming.”

Pace’s automotive business is “down a bit,” he says, due heavily to the chip shortage that has impacted the auto industry for the better part of this year and last. “We hope to see that come back a bit in the fourth quarter,” Hampton says. “If we take a look at our entire portfolio, we’re up. We’ve even made up for the automotive shortage. We’re bullish on the year from our perspective, just total die-cast.”

While Pace is more bearish than bullish on the projected boom in electrified vehicles in the auto industry, Pace Chief Marketing Officer Jason Allen says he sees opportunities, although they likely will manifest themselves slowly, and first in the hybrid and plug-in-hybrid space vs. battery-electric vehicles. Pace, already supplying aluminum battery-pack enclosures to Tesla and, via Delphi, to BMW, also is looking at supplying die-cast parts for lighting at charging stations, as well as potentially some parts in Level 3 public chargers.