Local, state plus company leaders officially conduct ribbon cutting for new plant
(Seguin) – If you drive a new 2022 Toyota Tundra or see a Tundra pick-up truck on the road, don’t forget to think Seguin.
That’s because more than likely that pickup box was manufactured at Teijin Automotive Technologies, formerly Continental Structural Plastics. Three years after its former announcement, the plant is finally celebrating the operation of the 200,000 square foot facility at the corner of 8th Street and Rio Nogales Drive.
The Seguin facility is said to be home to the largest compression molding press west of the Mississippi.
The Tundra pickup box is molded in one piece using one of Teijin’s proprietary composite formulations.
The box is available in three lengths and is available with optional lighting features. Teijin is also producing the tailgate covers out of composites, which will be assembled on to the boxes along with the D-pillar prior to shipment to Toyota’s manufacturing facility in San Antonio.
Local, state plus both Teijin and Toyota partners were on hand Tuesday morning to officially celebrate the full production on the pickup box which began in November 2021.
The molding and assembly process used by the team at Seguin closely mimics the one used by Teijin at its facility in Tijuana, Mexico, where it has been manufacturing the pickup boxes for the Toyota Tacoma since 2004. Since the start of production, Teijin has produced more than 2 million composite pickup boxes for the Tacoma program.
On hand for the presentation was Steve Rooney, CEO and general manager of Teijin’s composites business unit. He says they are proud to partner with Toyota on this exciting program and are certainly honored to be able to support this new Tundra program. He especially thanks the Seguin team for helping make it happen.
“Today marks a milestone for us. This is really our first brand new manufacturing facility that we have built in North America since we built the facility for Toyota in Tijuana, Mexico more than 15 years ago. Our other growth has really come from some small acquisitions but really expansion of existing facilities that we have around north America and this is the first time that we have had this great opportunity to build brand new from beginning to end and really implement the type of technology into a manufacturing system that really allows us to build high quality products on time,” said Rooney.
Echoing that corporate partnership was Tomo likubo, the general manager of purchasing and supplier development for Toyota North America. Iikubo says Toyota is excited to be Teijin’s customer and looks forward to the success ahead.
“The relationship between Toyota and Teijin is built on a 15-year foundation in North America. I am pleased that we can continue to cultivate this relationship here in Seguin providing truck beds for our all-new beautiful Tundra that you see right there built closed by in San Antonio. We rely on Teijin as a valuable extension of our manufacturing team and are entrusting you to do your part to help maintain Toyota’s reputation for quality and reliability,” said Iikubo.
In 2019, the manufacturing facility which is headquartered out of Auburn, Mich and has connections to Teijin based out of Tokyo, was announced as a $65 million capital investment by the office of Texas Governor Greg Abott.
During that recruitment announcement made while on a mission trip to Japan, Gov. Greg Abbott also stated that the project was granted $783,750 from the Texas Enterprise Fund.
The company was also applauded Tuesday by Governor Abbott who via a video message thanked all parties for seeing the project through.
Among those representing the state of Texas was Senator Judith Zaffirini. The senator who was among those on hand for the groundbreaking of the plant in September three years ago helped welcome the employees from headquarters and sent them away with a special gift from the Lone Star State.
“Our Legislative team, Senator Donna Campbell and Representative John Kuempel, son of our former State Representative from here Edmund, whom with I also served had flown a flag over the state capitol that day in honor of this wonderful new company and today it is my pleasure to present to your CEO Steve Rooney this flag that we referenced on that day,” said Zaffirini.
Teijin on Tuesday was not only thanked for being a good corporate partner but also for being a good community partner in the city of Seguin. Seguin Mayor Donna Dodgen says the city’s economic development team not only did a great job in bringing in the jobs to the community but also bringing in a good corporate citizen.
“We have the most wonderful economic development team in the state of Texas, here in Seguin Texas and I say that with all honestly and they have done a wonderful job in bringing what we need here. We talked about how we have the number one manufacturer in the state of Texas and I have a firm belief that Seguin is the number one manufacturing place in the state of Texas. Come! We are great. We are wonderful and we so appreciate having Teijin here and I’ll tell you what they have just done recently. So, I don’t know what all you will do July the Fourth but on the night of July the third, we are going to have the most incredible fireworks display ever and they have helped have that happen. They have joined in with a couple of other organizations in making that possible for the city of Seguin because as you know, it’s not a little thing to do and I want to tell you thank you so much for being here and thank you so much for being a part of the community because we have a great city. We have an incredible city and we are growing and we have great people here and you only make it better,” said Dodgen.
The now completed 200,000 square-foot facility includes fully-automated production cells and several large compression molding presses – including a 5,200-ton press – the largest such press west of the Mississippi River. The facility also features a topcoat paint line, and automated bonding and trimming cells. It employs approximately 200 people in engineering, administrative and production positions.
