The Brose Group has opened a new headquarters with an adjacent plant in Shanghai/China. Around 600 employees control the 12 Chinese locations and provide support to six production sites and sales offices in Japan, Korea and Thailand from the new office building.
With a total investment of EUR72m (US$78.1m), the company says it is laying the ideal foundation for solid growth in the world’s largest automotive market. Jürgen Otto, CEO of the Brose Group, stressed this during a ceremony on 21 April with 120 guests from business and politics.
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Over 20 years ago, the international automotive supplier began operations in China with its window regulator production. Now the mechatronics specialist manufactures its entire product portfolio, from door and seat systems to electric motors and drives in the region. The company consistently expanded its local development expertise in parallel to these efforts. Today the family-owned company employs 4,000 people in China.
The region contributes about 20% of the Brose Group’s turnover. The share of turnover is expected to rise to 25% by 2025 with turnover growing from EUR1.2bn to EUR2bn. “We continue to see excellent potential in the Chinese market with our mechatronics expertise, above all in the electrification of vehicles,” explained Jürgen Otto. Brose will expand its cooperation network with local partners and intensify its development efforts on site.
As is common practice in production, the company aims to boost its efficiency and expertise – including in the area of administration – considerably each year. This is why the latest standard in office management and global IT networking was implemented. The administration building is home to employees from the three business divisions door systems, seat adjusters and drives along with all of the technical functions. Purchasing activities, HR work and quality assurance in the region is also steered from this location. The new building is located adjacent to an ultra-modern production hall on a 40,000-square-meter site. The plant has a base area of 14,000 square meters and produces 3.3m components and systems on average each year. The company plans to nearly double its production volume in the next two years.
The automotive supplier wants to further expand development in 48-volt applications at the central location in Shanghai/China. “China is the leading market for electromobility. Brose will develop new and innovative products here that will help our domestic and global customers further enhance the efficiency of electric and conventional vehicles,” emphasised Jürgen Otto.
In addition, Brose is working on new adjustment systems for the vehicle interior along with power opening and closing side doors. The mechatronics specialist is presenting its latest ideas until 28 April 2017 at the Auto Shanghai, one of the most important car shows worldwide.
