Teijin Invests €10M in New GF‑SMC Molding Line to Bolster European Automotive Composite Supply

 

 

Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) announced on Feb. 17 that it will install a composite compression molding line at Benet Automotive s.r.o, the company’s automotive composites business in Milovice, Czech Republic. Teijin plans to invest approximately €10 million in the new glass fiber sheet molding compound (GF-SMC) line, which will begin operating in autumn 2022 to help meet strong demand for Teijin’s composite formulations in Europe.

Headquartered in Mlada Boleslav, Benet Automotive is a Tier 1 supplier of automotive composite components. The company is noted for its advanced technologies related to carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) molding as well as its capabilities in vehicle painting and assembly.

According to Teijin, the new GF-SMC molding line will also strengthen its response toward market demands for greater design freedom, productivity and cost efficiency, as well as weight reduction and strength. Benet Automotive has already received new orders from European and American automobile manufacturers for automotive components to be produced by the new line.

This recent investment in Teijin’s automotive composites business is in direct response to the automotive industry’s ongoing shift toward modifying its business models for lightweight, multifunctional next-generation vehicles. Up to this point, Teijin acquired Continental Structural Plastics Holdings Corp. (CSP, Auburn Hills, Mich., U.S.) in 2017 to become a Tier 1 supplier of multi-material automotive composites. Teijin later acquired automotive composite suppliers Inapal Plásticos SA in Portugal and Benet Automotive in the Czech Republic, and now plans to build a new GF-SMC compound plant geographically in between these two suppliers at CSP's facility in Pouancé, France. In addition, Teijin established Teijin Automotive Center Europe GmbH in Wuppertal, Germany, in 2020 as a new base for research and development within the company's multi-material automotive composite business.

Going forward, Teijin says it will meet the demands of the global automotive market, targeting automotive composite business sales of approximately €1.7 billion ($2 billion) by 2030.