SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — DENSO has named new top leadership at two U.S. locations.

Atsuhiko "Art" Shimmura will be named president of DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee (DMTN), in Maryville, Tenn. Shimmura succeeds Masahiko "Mack" Hattori, who has been DMTN’s president since 2004. Hattori guided DMTN through continued growth, including a new 214,000-square-foot plant that began production in October. Hattori will continue his career at DENSO Corp., DENSO’s headquarters in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan.

Shimmura began his career with DENSO after graduating from Japan’s University of Nagoya with a degree in business administration. He has worked in human resources and business planning and was instrumental in helping DENSO research Maryville, Tenn., as a manufacturing location in 1988. Most recently, he served as general manager of DENSO Corp.’s Electronics Systems Business Planning Center. This is Shimmura’s second assignment at DMTN. He worked as Human Resources coordinator at DMTN from 1989 to 1995.

"Credibility is a key to all DENSO activities, and our associates have established a reputation for the highest-quality products that our customers recognize and value," said Shimmura. "It is my goal to continue to grow and strengthen that reputation."

DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, founded in 1988, produces electronic products, instrument clusters, starters and alternators.

Kyosan DENSO Manufacturing Kentucky LLC has announced the appointment of Toshiharu Shikata as president of its facility in Mt. Sterling, Ky. Shikata succeeds Shunichiro Hiromasa, who will be returning to Japan.

Shikata began his career in 1981 as a production engineer in DENSO Corp.’s Filter Manufacturing Department. After holding a variety of positions within that department, Shikata was assigned to the Gasoline Injection Manufacturing Department where his responsibilities included production engineering of fuel injection pumps and fuel pump modules.

In 2003, Shikata was promoted to plant manager of DENSO’s Gasoline Injection Manufacturing Plant 2, where he led the rapid expansion of fuel pumps and fuel pump module production and contributed to productivity improvement.

"We are facing challenging times in the automotive industry," said Shikata, "so we need to earn the utmost trust from our customers, suppliers and the community. That is my goal as president of KDMK."

KYOSAN DENSO MANUFACTURING KENTUCKY is a joint venture between Kyosan Denki America, Inc., and DENSO International America, Inc.