By Mike Sunnucks | Phoenix Business Journal
A Japanese-owned company has broken ground on a new $25 million airbag manufacturing plant in Mesa.
Special Devices Inc. already has an airbag plant in Mesa. It bought an adjacent 19.6 acres of land near Greenfield Road and the Loop 202 freeway last month for $5.5 million.
SDI — which is owned by Japan-based Daicel Corp. — broke ground Monday on the new 64,000-square-foot plant. The new plant will employ 175 workers and the expansion will be completed in early 2016.
SDI and Daicel make airbag inflators at the Mesa center. The companies consolidated their North American automotive operations in Mesa in 2009.