Shiloh Industries announces planned aluminum casting plant in China

Shiloh Industries, Inc., a leading global supplier of lightweighting, noise and vibration solutions, today announced plans to open a new aluminum casting plant in Nantong, China in a joint venture with Suzhou Sanji Foundry Equipment Co., Ltd. (Sanji). Shiloh is the majority shareholder with 55 percent equity.

The plant will manufacture the company's family of aluminum CastLight™ products, utilizing Shiloh's high-pressure die casting and proprietary squeeze casting expertise. This operation supports Shiloh's continued global expansion of its leading and proprietary lightweighting technologies, with an expected opening in mid-2016.

"We continue to expand our global footprint to meet the growing lightweighting needs of the automotive industry," said Ramzi Hermiz, president and CEO of Shiloh. "Furthermore, I am excited to be working with the talented team at Sanji – our new partners. Shiloh offers the broadest portfolio of lightweighting solutions in the industry, along with Sanji who produces one of the best squeeze casting machines. This new venture in China will allow us to better serve our customers, both domestic and global OEMs."

"Shiloh Industries is a leader in die casting and squeeze casting, which made for an ideal partner for us in the region," according to Xu Shanxin, president of Suzhou Sanji Foundry Equipment Co., Ltd. "We believe that our patented equipment approach, together with Shiloh's expertise, will create great value for our customers."

The new aluminum casting plant is a greenfield project with an investment of approximately USD $30 million. Along with high pressure die casting and squeeze casting capabilities ranging from 500 to 3,000 tons, the plant capabilities will also include heating treating and precision machining operations. The plant will employ approximately 130 people at capacity.

"We are receiving very positive feedback from our customers who are excited about our launch of this technology near their China operations," said Brad Tolley, vice president, strategy and market development for Shiloh. "Our recent business awards also confirm that our major customers are looking for suppliers who can serve them in multiple regions, especially with the continued expansion of global platforms."

The aluminum casting plant will be located 45 miles from Shiloh's upcoming China Technical Center in Shanghai. The company will announce additional details on this new Tech Center at a future date.