TRW Automotive Holdings has started production of electric power steering (EPS) at Limeira, Brazil, for South American customers. The company has installed high-tech production equipment and allocated floor space for the project.
“Electric steering is a rapidly growing technology globally due to the many advantages it can provide,” said Peter Lake, who heads sales and business development for TRW.
Go deeper with GlobalData
“Creating a regional production base for our South American customers will provide a cost effective source for these fuel-saving and emission reducing technologies as we expand the footprint of EPS for the production of global platforms and make it available to domestic customers.”
Over the last 18 months TRW has installed equipment to produce the mechanical gear and column power head assembly. Additional spend is planned for electronic control units to fully localise column drive EPS manufacture for the region.
Initial line capacity is expected to be in the range of 400,000 units annually with employment of an additional 170 people, including engineering and other support personnel, once full capacity is reached.
Moises Bucci, TRW Automotive’s South America chief said: “The expansion of electric steering into South America continues our efforts to bring all of [our] highly sophisticated product offerings to Brazil and the wider South America region. As part of locating EPS here, we will build an efficient and well-developed supply base to deliver cost improvements – essential to competitiveness and customer service. And electric steering has been recognised for its ability to help contribute to the environmental improvement efforts here.”
TRW offers two EPS systems to cover the full vehicle platform range which consume power only when steering assist is needed. The first is the column drive unit which is mounted on the steering column and the second is belt drive where the assist power is applied directly to the rack with a belt drive and ball nut mechanism. Significant fuel economy and CO2 emissions benefits can be achieved with both systems compared with traditional hydraulic power steering: fuel savings of 0.3 to 0.4l/100km with a corresponding reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of approximately 7-8g/km.
