Taiho Kogyo Co. Ltd. (Japan, TSE: 6470), a separately traded division of Toyota Motor Company, will build a new engine bearing manufacturing plant in Japan.

The greenfield facility, to be built in Gifu Prefecture, has groundbreaking scheduled for January 2006.

It is expected to come online in mid-2007, to meet growing demand for engine bearings by increasingly successful Japanese domestic automakers.

Taiho Kogyo is one of the world's largest manufacturers of plain bearings, although it did not start manufacturing plain bearings until 1961 when it established a technology-sharing joint venture with Federal-Mogul Corporation (USA).

The company currently manufactures approximately 14 million engine bearings each year; the Gifu plant will boost that capacity to over 20 million, worth an additional $50 million in sales by 2007. The budget for Gifu, up and running, is reportedly ¥ 2.2 billion.

Taiho Kogyo has approximately 20 manufacturing locations around the world, supplying all of the world's key automakers with all types of engine bearings, thrust bearings, thrust washers, various die cast products and gaskets. For example, Taiho currently has more than 50% market share for plain engine bearings used in Japanese cars and motorcycles.

In 2002, Taiho Kogyo acquired China Yantai Bearing Company, an engine bearing manufacturer in Shandong Province.

In early 2003, Taiho Kogyo landed its first GM engine bearing contract.

In late 2003, Taiho Kogyo acquired Nippon Gasket Company, NHK.

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