ZF has opened its new technical and office facility at Blythe Valley Business Park, Solihull, in the British Midlands region.
The new GBP70m (US$94.2m) 220,000 sq ft, technical centre houses the current 700 staff with room for growth and is located central to all UK Test Bed facilities.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The site features technology and infrastructure to develop solutions for autonomous, electric and connected mobility.
ZF’s facility is a multi-disciplinary, multi-divisional location, collaborating on development of technologies and system solutions for Active and Passive Safety Systems: Autonomous Driving, Cyber-Security, Electronics, Braking and Steering Systems, as well as Electrified Powertrain solutions and Race Engineering.
The location is also designated as ZF’s global Centre of Competency for Servo-Motors design. In these areas, ZF is increasing the number of R&D specialists at the Shirley location. These technologies contribute to solutions which use high levels of autonomous driving and electromobility.
“In the design of this new facility, we made a specific effort to ensure we created a future proof working environment, which was going to encourage collaboration and agile working practices; one that would enable and accelerate the development of new technologies in support of ZF’s Next generation Mobility Goals,” said ZF Site lead at Shirley, Alistair McQueen.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThe new site also enables greater customer collaboration – from project support to launch support.
As an example, ZF supplies Mahindra Racing with the e-powertrain and dampers for its Formula E Racecar and hosted the launch of the team’s Series 8 Formula E Racecar on the same day as the facility opened.
