JASA and a group of Alabama legislators as part of the Alabama-Japan Legislative Exchange had the distinct pleasure of being hosted last month by our member, Topre America Corporation, for a detailed history, overview, and tour of their Cullman production facility, led by Mark Moore, General Manager of the Cullman plant.

Topre is a major supplier for the automotive industry not just in Alabama, but throughout the Southeast. Specializing in the manufacturing of high-strength steel structural components and stamping, Topre America Corporation is a subsidiary of the Japan-based Topre, and serves automotive companies like Honda, Toyota, and Nissan.

 

Established in Japan in 1935, Topre’s first expansion outside of Japan was the Cullman plant in 2004. With five plants in Japan and five in North America, Topre reported ¥378.8 billion ($2.33 billion) annual sales in March this year. Although Topre generally focuses on metal and manufacturing, they produce components for a variety of equipment for various fields. Their expansion into these fields beyond automotive parts began by fabricating parts to sell to partner companies, before shifting to making the whole appliances themselves. While auto parts make up 79% of the company’s output, electronic equipment comprises 17%, and A/C units and their cold storage equipment division each make up 4% of their output. Their focus is on the art and technology of pressing, and are interested in expansion where that technology matters – their team is constantly innovating, researching, and developing Topre’s expertise in the pressing field.

 

The Cullman plant has been in a state of constant expansion since 2004, and has been recognized multiple times by their partner companies for the consistent high quality of their parts. Utilizing “high-tensile steel processing technology,” Topre America produces the high-strength skeletons for automotives that protect users in case of accidents. Their “hot stamp” technology, which super-heats and then quickly cools high-strength materials, allows Topre America to achieve higher strength parts while still reducing weight, helping to improve fuel economy. They supply these lighter, high-strength parts to local automotive manufacturers for a variety of makes and models of vehicles.

After a presentation of this information, the Legislative Exchange and JASA, along with Tesshu Harada, the Cullman plant’s Chief Executive and Financial Officer, as well as Masahiro Matuso, the Managing Executive Officer for Global Auto Parts at the Sagamihara plant, travelled to the plant for a guided tour through their production line. Wallace State Community College, a JASA member, kindly donated the use of one of their buses to transport us to and from the plant.

At the plant, we donned protective gear and were toured around the factory floor, seeing the hot stamp method in action. The Cullman plant operates at an extremely high level of quality and consistency, with very little scrap or errors produced in their production lines. The final stamped metal parts are so hard they can only be trimmed by lasers, also managed by employees on the line.

After our tour, Honorary Consul General Mark Jackson emphasized the extensive and still growing impact of Japanese manufacturing in Alabama, highlighting that, of the 100,000 manufacturing jobs available in the state, 38.8% are opportunities at Japanese companies.

Thank you again to Sandy Riordan at the Alabama-Japan Legislative Exchange for your work coordinating this event, and to Mark Moore and the entire Topre America team in Cullman for welcoming us to the plant.