DENSO Products and Services Americas (DPAM), Inc., an affiliate of global automotive supplier DENSO Corp., has kicked off a year of commemorative activities to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary in America. One of the largest private employers in Long Beach, CA, the aftermarket automotive parts and mobility solutions powerhouse has been honored with a formal proclamation signed by Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia in recognition of its half-century milestone.
DENSO will mark the anniversary with various employee celebrations across its administrative, sales, manufacturing, and distribution centers throughout North America. Group events will be coordinated as COVID-19 restrictions ease.
“We are celebrating all DPAM associates whose dedication to excellence, innovation, service to our community and customersover five decades has made us the aftermarket leader we are today,” said DPAM President Hirokatsu Yamashita. “We proudly carry this tradition into the future as we commemorate 50 years of DPAM’s growth and success in America.”
DPAM’s rich history in America dates back to March 1, 1971, when the company incorporated as Nippondenso. Launched in response to the growth of the Japanese car market in the U.S., the company started out in a modest office in Hawthorne, California, with only a dozen employees. Initially, DPAM promoted the sale of air conditioners as an option for vehicles built in Japan. Demand for the units was so high that within a year the company added manufacturing A/C kits for Toyota to its U.S. operations.
Back then, the U.S. was already the world’s most car-dependent country and demand for service parts was soaring. American consumers were growing increasingly smitten with Japanese cars, so DPAM expanded its inventory to offer replacement parts, such as spark plugs.
Business continued to boom, prompting DPAM to move to its current 9.7-acre campus in Long Beach in 1982. That year, the company also launched MovinCool, dedicated to sales of DENSO’s portable commercial air conditioning units. The highly successful product line was developed by DENSO to cool production workers at its own auto parts factories in Japan.
In 1999, DPAM launched DENSO Robotics to market high-performance industrial robots, another product line pioneered by DENSO to support its own manufacturing needs. Today, companies around the globe rely on DENSO’s advanced robotic technology for electronics, pharmaceuticals, biomedical devices, food processing, aerospace, technology, and many other products and industries that require precision manufacturing.
In 2001, DPAM launched its aftermarket brand DENSO First Time Fit in the U.S. The brand is recognized by the automotive industry as one of the nation’s top aftermarket suppliers for nearly all imported and domestic vehicles. Today, in addition to air conditioning components and spark plugs, DENSO’s aftermarket automotive product lines for cars and trucks include alternators and starters; condensers and radiators; direct ignition coils; engine management sensors; evaporators; air, cabin and oil filters; fuel pumps; ignition wire sets; oxygen and air/fuel sensors; relays; tire pressure monitoring system sensors; and wiper blades.
In 2009, DPAM added its Automatic Data Capture (ADC), the Americas’ sales arm of DENSO Wave Inc., inventor of the Secure QR Code (SQRC). DENSO ADC supplies QR Code technology products, scanners, terminals and software to many industries that include retail and commercial; manufacturing and warehousing; healthcare and medical; transportation and logistics; and events and entertainment.
DPAM currently employs about 550 people in three countries. In addition to its Long Beach headquarters, DPAM has manufacturing operations in Murrieta, CA; regional sales offices in Plano, TX, and West Chester, OH; warehouses in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, and Jeffersonville, IN; and a technology center in Jermyn, PA. In Mexico and Canada, DPAM has sales and distribution staff to service customers in those countries.