Yantai, Shandong – Autoneum, a Swiss car seat and interiors firm has opened the first of four new plants in China to meet growing demand.
Autoneum opens first of new wave of Chinese plants
Hirzel: upbeat about China
The facility has started series and just-in-time production of inner dashes and carpet systems, the Swiss company said. Eventually, around 250,000 Chinese vehicles will be supplied with components from the site each year.
This is Autoneum’s seventh plant in China. It was designed using digital 3D simulations and machine set-up, layout of production cells and deployment of shopfloor workers was stimulated in the planning phase.
The company promised that ‘in just a few weeks, series production of carpet systems, inner dashes and wheelhouse outer liners will also get underway for US-American and Chinese vehicle manufacturers at a new plant in the city of Changsha, Hunan.’
This will produce 1.4 m components annually. Scrap from carpet and felt production is recycled on a fully-automated basis,at the plant and this ensures a closed material cycle, the firm added.
A plant located in Pinghu, Zhejiang 100 km south of Shanghai is still being built along with a production facility in Shenyang Tiexi, Laioning.
The Pinghu site is slated to start in the autumn of 2018 and will make underbody systems for European and Chinese vehicle manufacturers, Autoneum said.
In 2018, Shenyang Tiexi is scheduled to supply models produced by German customers with heat shields, hood liners and carpet systems.
Autoneum CEO Martin Hirzel said: ‘our expansion takes into account the importance of the Chinese growth market and ever-increasing demand from international and Chinese vehicle manufacturers. We are focusing on vertical integration and sustainable production processes at our new plants.’
