Japanese Toray Advanced Textiles manufacturing firm dedicated to the manufacture of fibers for the production of airbags in the automotive industry has announced the opening of their new $80 million USD plant in El Salto, Jalisco.

This is the first factory of the Japanese group dedicated to the production of airbags, a market that is growing at an annual rate of 8.1 percent.

The new industrial plant will employ 173 workers and have the capacity to produce about 10,000 tons of nylon fiber per year. The plant will also manufacture the textile that will be sent to assemblers for the manufacturing of vehicle air bags.

According to the firm Market analysis Transparency Market Research, the airbag industry is expected to reach revenues in excess of $29 billion by 2020. Part of their anticipated growth rate is due to the massive recalls of Takata air bags.

They are also looking into building a new carbonization facility for mass production as their development of a new variety of regular tow carbon fiber, which they report, is expected to begin production toward the end of 2018.