Visteon Corporation will build a so-called ‘focused factory’ in Dubnica, Slovak Republic, dedicated to supporting the Kia plant currently under construction in the east European country.
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The Visteon plant will supply climate control components to Kia. Start of production is planned for December 2006. Kia is the second customer that Visteon will supply out of Slovakia.
Visteon and its Korean affiliate Halla Climate Control (HCC) have been awarded substantial climate control business for Kia’s European operations, including the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning module (HVAC), powertrain cooling module, compressor, air-conditioning hoses and temperature controls. Visteon will be Kia’s main systems integrator for the climate control system. The new Dubnica focused factory will be a hub for the supply of all Visteon climate control content to Kia in Slovakia, with components being manufactured in factories worldwide, including those in Slovakia, the neighbouring Czech Republic – where Skoda and the PSA-Toyota small car venture are located – and Korea.
The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group is Visteon’s second largest customer worldwide.
The factory in Dubnica will have capacity for components for 300,000 vehicle units at full production by 2010 and can be expanded. The building will cover 3,800 square metres on 12,000 square metres of land.
“The Dubnica facility will exclusively focus on supplying the Kia programme,” said a Visteon spokesman.
“We are tailoring our manufacturing, quality and supply-chain processes around the individual requirements of our OEM customers. Our customer focus is the reason we call our just-in-time plants ‘focused factories’.”
Earlier this year, Visteon announced plans for a manufacturing facility in Nitra, Slovakia and construction is now under way. This plant is designed to become a base for the production of plastics components for interior and climate control products to supply car manufacturers located in Eastern Europe. Visteon will also manufacture interior components for PSA Peugeot-Citroën there.
Kia begins plant construction in Slovakia
