Our Company

On July 10, 1963, in Kyoto, Akira Konishi invented the module system (total division structure, complete heat hardening treatment, and all precision machining after total hardening) for the purpose of specialized production of precision dies and established DAI-ICHI SEIKO Co., Ltd. The molds that were being made around this time were “high-performance quenching molds.” The molds were manufactured for companies supplying parts for computers, integrated circuits, automotive, television, telecommunication devices, and more. It is during this time that we established a reputation as a high quality, precision mold manufacturer. This reputation helped establish a solid business foundation and grow the business far beyond our expectation in Japan, US, Canada, Mexico and Singapore. In our efforts to keep moving forward and to enhance our core techonology, we invested in engineer training, making it a requirement to visit the US and learn the most advanced mold manufacturing technology.

By the company's 10th anniversary, we had accumulated technology and gained experience in manufacturing molds as well as in molding and the production of plastic parts. Therefore, it become possible to not only deliver molds, but to also conduct molding operations in our own factory and supply customers with high volumes of precision molded parts. This proposal was readily accepted by our customers. This encounter with the connector business marked the beginning of our contract manufacturing business, and also led to the production and sales of I-PEX brand connectors later on.

In October 1971, our company became the first Japanese mold manufacturer to exhibit at the National Plastic Exhibitionheld in Chicago, USA. At this exhibition, our precision molds were highly acclaimed as products exceeding internationalstandards.This exhibition, currently the NPE: The Plastics Show, is North America's largest trade show for the plastics industry,attracting exhibitors from around the world. To further establish our reputation overseas and expand our export businessfrom Japan, we opened a sales office in Chicago in October of the same year.

In December 2000, Touchstone Precision, Inc. was established in Auburn, Alabama to expand automotive parts business in the US. The company was renamed in 2020, and is now I-PEX USA Manufacturing, Inc. Auburn is a college town with a population of approximately 80,000 located approximately 180km southwest of Atlanta. Auburn was strategically chosen for several reasons. It was home to Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, Hyundai and automotive assembly plants. Also, it was expected to attract talent from nearby Auburn University. It was a safe place with low risk of natural disasters, and had nice weather. At the time, the state of Alabama was also providing extended support to attract companies into its new technology parks.

“I-PEX has more than 20 years of expertise in Asia; however, not in highly economically developed countries including the US. We will launch business in these countries to explore new business opportunities with our unique technologies and capabilities. We plan to start on a small scale, focusing mainly on precision insert molding. In the future, we plan to offer a flexible supply chain solution to meet our customers' needs.”

The company's name at the time, Touchstone*, was chosen as the intention was to test the company's technological capabilities in a highly developed market and economy. *Touchstone: a piece of fine-grained dark schist or jasper formerly used for testing alloys of gold by observing the color of the mark they made on it. In June 2002, about a year and a half after the establishment of the corporation, the factory started operations. Initially, the company was not well known and orders were scarce for a while, but thanks to the activities of the sales office established in Detroit, the company was awarded its first order for molded products. Thereafter, I-PEX received orders from Japanese auto parts manufacturers and began producing insert-molded products and connectors for the automotive industry.

As our business keeps growing, we continue to expand our plant and our operations. In 2012, Building 2 was built to accomodate the growth of the injection molding business for the automotive industry. In 2015, we built Building 3 to further grow our automotive business serving the North American and European markets. The mayor of Auburn, city officials, representatives from the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, Auburn University and the Japan America Society of Alabama participated in the opening ceremony to commemorate the opening of these facilities and the development of business promoting local and global economic growth.
We are now positioned to serve not only the automotive but various other industries including aerospace, life sciences and more.