Despite some changes to the sign near the entrance to its 1600 N. High St. facility in Hillsboro, Weatec officials say the business is not going anywhere.
“We live in a small community and sometimes people jump to the wrong conclusions when they see change,” a Weastec spokesperson said in explaining the sign changes. “We know that our parent company name is not familiar to people. We want everyone to know that Weastec is still going strong and we want to honor our ties to Toyo Denso.”
Weastec said it replaced the signage in front of its main facility in Hillsboro by adding its parent company’s name and logo to the left side sign. The Weastec name remains on the sign.
“We want to honor our parent company, who has a long history of designing, developing and supplying markets globally with electro-mechanical switches, sensors and electronic modules. Toyo Denso (TEC) is a global leader in vehicle electronic components,” the company said in news release.
Weastec was established in 1987 and began mass production in April of 1988. Weastec was Toyo Denso’s first American venture. In 2005, Weastec opened a Technical Design and Engineering Center in Dublin, Ohio. A portion of its sales team and design engineering are located at that facility.
It employs 139 associates at the Hillsboro facility, and 183 associates overall, the spokesperson said.
Weastec, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyo Denso, Ltd. of Japan. It is a worldwide automotive supplier of interior switches, engine sensors, motorcycle switches and ATV products. Toyo Denso was established in 1947, in Japan by the Koide Brothers as Koide Electric Works. In 1960, the name changed to Toyo Denso.
The decision to build a facility in Hillsboro came after the Koide brothers narrowed the search for an American location down to two different towns in Ohio.
“The Koide family was impressed with our rural farming community with an abundance of available workers who had a strong worth ethic,” the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified, said. “Weastec still has strong ties to Highland County. The average seniority of our associate is 16 years. One of our greatest business strengths is our loyal associates who have grown with the company and continued to help us improve our business.”
To compete in the competitive global markets, Weastec changed its core business operations from manufacturing to distribution in 2008. Its sister plants located in Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam manufacture components for Weastec. The parts are tested, visually inspected and repacked at the Hillsboro facility before being shipped to its customers, according to the news release.
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or on Twitter @13gillilandj.
