Johnson Controls has officially opened its new seat factory in Craiova, Romania
View Larger Map, which will supply Ford’s local assembly plant with complete seat systems for the new B-Max minivan on a just-in-sequence basis.
JCI interiors executive Jeff Williams said: “Romania is an important part of the growing eastern European automotive market as industry projections expect the country’s automotive market to grow by approximately 80% over the next four years.”
The Craiova plant will create 160 new jobs while the supplier’s ‘automotive experience’ unit employs 4,500 peoplecountry-wide – it has a seat assembly plant and five seating component plants there. JCI recently acquired the automotive business of Romanian company Spumotim which included two polyurethane foam plants in Timisoara and Poiana Lacului.