Following a US$37m investment, Shanghai Behr Thermal Systems (SBTS) has opened a plant in Jinqiao, Shanghai, a year after the company held its official groundbreaking ceremony.
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SBTS, a partnership between Behr GmbH and the Shanghai Sanden Behr Automotive Air Conditioning Company Ltd, focuses on the development and production of HVAC modules and engine cooling components for automobiles. The company called the new facility “one of the most advanced facilities in China for HVAC module and engine- cooling-components testing”.
The plant incorporates an HVAC calorimeter and a radiator wind tunnel. The factory houses a 300,000-square-foot production hall, which includes a Nocolok furnace that can produce 2.1m brazed heat exchangers per year, a tool shop, an energy building and offices. The new plant has sufficient space to enable SBTS to double its engineering staff from the 50 currently employed to 100 in the future.
“Today we are celebrating far more than a plant opening,” said Behr Group CEO Dr Markus Flik. “We are celebrating a strong partnership and a joint commitment to China’s automotive market. We chose this site, not only for logistical and economic reasons, but also because we fully expect it to become another of Shanghai’s successful, advanced business and industrial centers. We are also close to many of our customers, and we sincerely hope that our proximity will further these relationships.”
The company’s current product portfolio covers mechanically fitted products such as radiators and heater cores, brazed products including aluminium-brazed radiators, charge air coolers, oil coolers, condensers, evaporators and heater cores, and cooling modules, HVAC units, plastic parts, electric/electronic parts, blower units and control panels.
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By GlobalData“Our new plant, which incorporates many key elements of the Behr production system, stands as a tribute to cooperation, teamwork and a shared sense of purpose,” said Dr Knut Haarscheidt, general manager of SBTS. “It is not easy to build a plant and, at the same time, grow a business in a market as dynamic as the China market, but together we have made good progress. I would like to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all concerned.”
Behr said that its goal is to generate approximately 10% of its global sales in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of 2010, with China as a key contributor. The new SBTS plant with equipment represents a total investment of about US$37m and the joint venture expects to generate revenues of approximately US$87m in two to three years.
