Taiho Kogyo Co. (Japan), a separately traded division of Toyota Motor Corporation, has acquired Yantai Chunsang Sliding Bearing Co., Ltd. (China) for ¥ 900 million (USD $7.2 million).

Taiho Kogyo is one of the world's largest manufacturers of plain bearings: engine bearings, formed bushings and thrust washers for auto and truck manufacturers.

Although Toyota facilities worldwide account for 70% of the company's sales, it has a 40% market share in Japan and almost 50% if motorcycles are included. Virtually every auto and truck manufacturer is a Taiho customer.

Taiho Kogyo was founded in 1944 and had sales last year of ¥ 47 billion ($376.3 million) with operating profit of ¥ 3.6 billion ($28.8 million). The company employs 1,420 people in 10 factories and several facilities in other countries.

The company's U.S. facility, Taiho Corporation of America, for example, is located in Tiffin, Ohio. Built in 1996, it has been expanded several times as Toyota's output in the U.S. increased and as other automakers switched to Taiho bearings and bushings. The company also makes A/C compressor hemisphere shoes in Tiffin.

In 2001, Taiho Kogyo spent $7.5 million to build a second plant in Tiffin to make die-cast aluminum parts for Toyota's engine plant in Buffalo, West Virginia. Overall, the U.S. operations now have total sales of approximately $30 million.

Two months ago, in August 2002, Taiho and Federal-Mogul Corporation formed a joint venture, TF Global Gaskets LLC, to manufacture engine gaskets at Federal-Mogul's factory in Gordonsville, Tennessee. Gordonsville currently produces wire harness covers, which will be moved to another facility.

In 2001, Taiho revealed a plan to add primary manufacturing facilities and world-leading production capabilities in the world's other major automotive markets, budgeting ¥ 6 billion ($8 million) for the project.

The acquisition of Yantai Chunsang Sliding Bearing is part of that expansion plan. An engine bearing manufacturer located in Shandong Province, China, Yantai Chunsang had sales last year of ¥ 800 million ($6.4 million).