Italian automotive tooling specialist Persico (Nembro; www.persico.com) and German competitor WIS Tooling (Emsdetten / Germany; www.wis-tooling.de) entered into a strategic cooperation agreement aiming to supply the German car market with back-foaming tools for interior and exterior components, including instrument panels, doors, center consoles, bumpers and under shields. While at the outset, the cooperation will focus mainly on back-foaming tools, the companies said their aim is to supply complete systems to automotive OEMs worldwide. The portfolios are said to be largely complementary.

For the Italian partner, the aim is also to enhance its presence in the important German market with the new established own subsidiary Persico Deutschland based near Düsseldorf.

WIS Tooling, established in 2004, is a wholly owned subsidiary of traditional German OEM supplier Josef Weischer, also based at Emsdetten. The company specialises in plastics processing tools used to manufacture automotive interiors, including foaming, thermoforming and coupling equipment.

Persico, which employs 350 people and has annual sales of around EUR 90m, produces machinery and tools for automotive interiors, along with functional acoustic parts. With its acquisition by Autoplas Systems (Rochester Hill, Michigan / USA) in 2013, the company established a foothold in North America. It also has a subsidiary, Persico Asia, based near Shanghai / China.