Industry News

Alex Chen, managing director of Taiwanese automotive parts and fastener manufacturer – Sumeeko Industries Co Ltd, revealed to Fastener + Fixing Magazine, during a visit to Taiwan, that the company is in the process of acquiring Max Mothes GmbH, based in Neuss, Germany, and with it, Italian hot and cold forger VSP Fasteners SpA. 

Founded in 1918 in Düsseldorf, Max Mothes is now headquartered in Neuss, to which it relocated fully at the end of 2013. In 2011 the company was purchased from insolvency by investment partnership Schuering & Andreas, having reported 2010 sales of around €42 million. Schuering & Andreas are turnaround specialists, with a track record of acquiring German Mittelstand companies either in distress or lacking family management succession. 

Max Mothes has a major warehousing, logistics and packing centre in Neuss, with an inventory of 90,000 standard parts and more than 100,000 customised articles. Alongside is an established production operation, primarily machining bolts up to 150mm diameter, for which the company is reputed to hold the largest European stock of blanks, and customer specials. Max Mothes’ manufacturing competence was strengthened in 2012 with investment in state of the art CNC machining centres. The company has another German automotive branch in the Munich Airport Business Park. Outside of Germany it has locations in Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Italy and China. It supplies a diverse range of automotive, energy sector and engineering customers, as well as selling to fastener distributors. Max Mothes employs around 200 people. 

In August this year Max Mothes announced it had acquired VSP Fasteners, based in Brugherio, Italy, which now trades as Max Mothes Srl. A family company established in the late 1970s, VSP was acquired in 2013 by Italian private equity fund, Arcadia SGR. The company manufactures high-tensile fasteners from M12 to M80 using both cold and hot forming technologies. More than 80% of production is exported, mainly to Germany and northern Europe, although the company also established a sales presence in North America. 

Alex Chen provided only limited details of the purchase agreement, implying it had been reached in September, and that he expected it to complete in January 2018, once regulatory obligations are met. Sumeeko was founded in Kaohsiung, initially as a trader but quickly establishing its own manufacturing operation. In 2001 it set-up a plant in Suzhou, China, and more recently has established a new 16,500m² production facility in Pingtung, south of Kaohsiung city. The new plant manufactures both male and female parts, through cold forming, stamping and threading/machining. It recently commissioned its first in-house heat treatment line, in order to meeting automotive quality requirements. Sumeeko production facilities are ISO/TS 16949 accredited and more than 70% of its sales are now to automotive tier 1 and 2, including General Motors, Chrysler, Volkswagen, Toyota and Tesla.

Across its three manufacturing plants Sumeeko employs close to 400 people. It has a warehouse in Harrison, Michigan, to support US automotive customers, to which 56% of Taiwanese production is destined. Around 20% of sales currently go to Europe. 

Sumeeko made an initial public offering in 2012, with its stock listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Taiwanese sales in 2013 reached US$30 million, growing progressively to close to US$40 million in 2016. Describing Sumeeko’s key capabilities as delivering substantial cost reductions on automotive and special parts without compromise to quality, Alex Chen said the Max Mothes acquisition would more than double the company’s turnover.