NOVI, Mich.—Orotex Corp. is getting ready to double the size of its Novi production site.
The automotive supplier of rubber vibration reduction materials and soundproofing products will invest $10.3 million to add 60,000 square feet and 60 jobs. Orotex currently employs 90 at Novi.
Plant Manager Bill Reynolds said groundbreaking is forthcoming and the firm intends to double its sales in five years, adding that the addition is necessary to produce parts for new contracts it has secured in the coming years.
"This growth is not being driven by future forecasts. We have that business booked and we need to react to it and prepare for it," he said.
"Being nimble and able to react quickly to our customers' requirements helps set us apart. We're able to cater to any need our customers have in a quick time frame. People have various philosophies. I believe it's very important to focus on value-added activities and not get bogged down by the non-value-added activities."
Orotex is a subsidiary of Japan-based Iida Industry Co. Ltd. and came to the U.S. in 1999 with a sales office. By 2002, the firm was shipping product to General Motors and established a 15,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing and distribution facility in Farmington Hills, Mich.
The firm only has grown since. It secured business with original equipment manufacturers like Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, which eventually caused Orotex to move into its current facility in Novi, at the time quadrupling its size.
Along the way, Orotex evolved from a Tier 2 to a Tier 1 supplier. And in 2012, the firm opened a 60,000-sq.-ft. branch in Aguascalientes, Mexico, to provide product for its customers in that local market.
"We have a customer in Mexico that insisted we have a branch down there," Reynolds said. "But I want to make very clear: That was not an intention to move to Mexico. Our full intention is to be investing in the U.S. and Michigan."