Global News: Federal-Mogul Increases Resources in Japan

Federal-Mogul Corporation has announced it is expanding its technical and sales resources in Japan as part of a plan to increase sales to Asian customers by at least $500 million (U.S.) by 2010.
Federal-Mogul has established an Asian regional office in Yokohama, Japan, and announced that Yokohama will be the location of a new technical center that will open in early 2004 to provide application engineering and sales support to original equipment manufacturers in Japan.
Yokohama was selected due to its proximity to customers, transportation and the city of Tokyo, where much Asian and Japanese automotive activity is centered.
“We are expanding our presence in Japan to serve customers in a range of emerging technologies, including those related to diesel engine performance, power cylinder systems, improving fuel economy and emissions, and advanced brake friction materials,” said Federal-Mogul chairman and chief executive officer Frank Macher. While the new technical center is under development, Federal-Mogul’s Asian regional office and technical resources for customers in Japan are based at the existing Federal-Mogul KK facility in Yokohama.
When the new technical center opens in 2004, it will house the company’s Asian office and expanded technical resources to serve all of Federal-Mogul’s customers in Japan.
“Establishing Yokohama as the base for our Asian operations will allow us to further support our customers and work more closely with our joint venture and strategic partners in Japan, while confirming our commitment to growth in the Asian region,” said Brian Ruddy, Federal-Mogul’s vice president and managing director, Asia.
“Having our Asian regional office and our Japanese technical center in a new state-of-the-art facility in Yokohama will help position Federal-Mogul as a major supplier to Japanese manufacturers and aftermarket distributors at all of their global locations.”
Federal-Mogul is currently expanding its technical resources in Yokohama by recruiting more engineers, installing additional component testing equipment, and establishing computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD-CAM) links to Federal-Mogul’s design centers in North America and Europe. Earlier this year, Federal-Mogul announced plans to build a technical center in Japan, complete with application and sales engineering, engine testing equipment and computer-aided design tools with 24-hour online capabilities among Japan, Europe and North America.
Federal-Mogul plans to break ground on the facility by early 2003. Federal-Mogul’s operations in Japan currently consist of a Systems Protection manufacturing and sales facility in Yokomizo, and an OE and aftermarket sales and distribution center for all other products in Yokohama. Federal-Mogul has manufacturing plants in Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, India and Australia, as well as sales offices and distribution centers throughout the region. Approximately 85 percent of the company’s Asia Pacific sales are in powertrain products.