Hideo Ishii Named Asahi Tec President

SHIZUOKA, Japan, June 26 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Hideo Ishii has been named president and co-CEO of Asahi Tec Corporation, the company announced today. He will also become director and representative executive officer. Ishii assumes these positions after the general shareholders meeting on June 28.

He will be responsible for the Metal Forming Group and Diversified Business Group. These businesses represent the operations of Asahi Tec prior to the acquisition of Metaldyne announced in January of this year. He will also become co-CEO with Timothy D. Leuliette, who also serves as co-chairman of the company with Shoichiro Irimajiri.

Irimajiri had been serving as president, co-CEO and representative executive officer. He will resign those posts to focus on the role of director and co-chairman of the company.

"Asahi Tec’s goal is to create a strong, globally competitive company that understands and supports global markets, cultures and customers to deliver leading-edge products worldwide," said Irimajiri. "In his role as president and co-CEO, Hideo Ishii will play a key role in developing and executing the initiatives and strategies that will help realize that goal."

Ishii was most recently president and representative director of Honeywell Japan. He has also served as president and representative director of Honeywell International Japan and held other high level positions at that company. He has also held executive positions at Nissan including vice president, corporate strategy, Nissan Europe and vice president, operations at Nissan Motor Manufacturing Spain. Ishii has also served as managing director and member of the board of Vantec Corporation.

"Hideo Ishii is a strong leader and has a wealth of experience in management and operational excellence," said Leuliette. "I look forward to working with him to make Asahi Tec a stronger, better capitalized, more globally capable company."

Ishii is a graduate of the Aero Engineering Department of the University of Tokyo.

About Asahi Tec

Headquartered in Shizuoka, Japan, Asahi Tec (TSE: 5606) primarily designs, manufactures and sells ductile iron cast auto parts for truck and construction machinery OEMs, aluminum casting parts for truck and passenger car OEMs and aluminum wheels for automobile OEMs. Asahi Tec also designs, manufactures and sells environmental systems, equipment and development technologies used by local governments and municipalities and electrical hardware and equipment used by electricity generators.

Its subsidiary, Metaldyne, is a leading global designer and supplier of metal-based components, assemblies and modules for transportation related powertrain and chassis applications including engine, transmission/transfer case, wheel-end and suspension, axle and driveline, and noise and vibration control products to the motor vehicle industry. It is headquartered in Plymouth, Mich.

Asahi Tec has annual revenues of approximately $2.7 billion and employs approximately 10,000 employees at 55 facilities in 15 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.asahitec.co.jp and http://www.metaldyne.com .