Idemitsu Lubricants America has opened its new 13,000 square foot R&D facility in Wixom, MI — the company's first research and development center in North America. The facility at 48325 Alpha Drive employs seven workers, with the possibility to have up to 50 in the future.

Idemitsu Lubricants America invested $2.4 million in building and equipment costs for the new site. The company plans to spend an additional $2 million in purchasing new equipment and making improvements over the next two years.

"Idemitsu on a global basis is a large petroleum company, but in North America we're just a lubricant provider, so we work directly with the OEMs whether they are the Asian OEMS or the U.S. OEMs," said Scott Rajala, senior regional chief engineer at Idemitsu.

"We were looking for a central location to support the North American automotive market," Rajala said. "Our facilities here in the U.S. support both North and South America and while we've been primarily been an Asian OEM supplier for the better part of 50 years, our strength here is to grow and build a business with the North American OEMs, so we wanted to make sure we were central to the automotive market."

Rajala said Idemitsu is the leader in the main lubricant that is used in car air conditioners, with about 80 percent of the world's market share. Honda Motor Co. is the company's largest global customer and it is a supplier to General Motors Co.

ILA is a subsidiary of Japan's Idemitsu Kosan, the second largest petroleum company in Japan after JX Nippon Oil and Energy Co. Annual sales for Idemitsu Kosan for the last fiscal year were more than $40 billion. ILA in North America had $250 million in net sales revenue.