As reported earlier, Piston Group has acquired Takata's Irvin Automotive Products, creating one of the largest privately-owned automotive supplier groups in Michigan.

The expanded group is expected to post record sales of more than US$1.8bn in 2016 with 8,300 employees at 15 facitories in the United States and Mexico. Other companies in the group include Piston Automotive, Detroit Thermal Systems and AIREA.

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Headquartered in Pontiac, Michigan, Irvin is a manufacturer of interior trim and seating material. A wholly owned subsidiary of Takata, the company has annual sales of $500m with facilities in Del Rio, Texas; Acuna, Mexico, and Sabinas, Mexico.

"Our vision is to become a fully integrated global supplier," said Vinnie Johnson, the Piston Group's chairman and CEO. "The purchase of Irvin Automotive strengthens our engineering and manufacturing expertise and will allow us to provide a concept-to-completion platform across the automotive industry and other diversified industries as well.

"With our eyes on the future, we believe that Irvin will play a significant role in the double-digit growth we expect to achieve over the next several years."

As a group, Johnson's companies now rank among the top five privately owned automotive suppliers in southeastern Michigan, according to Crain's Detroit Business. Customers include FCA US, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Toyota and ZF.

Irvin Automotive adds Nissan to the group's customer list.

Johnson said Irvin Automotive would operate as a separate company within the group, adding that Irvin's president Joseph Finn along with his management team will continue to head the company.

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