Mörfelden, Germany - Proseat and Johnson Controls, a leading automotive seat maker, are to set up joint venture plants to make moulded-foam seating cushions in Poland and Slovakia.
Each company will carry out its own programmes in these new entities in 2007 to support future growth in eastern European markets, said a 23 May announcement from Proseat.
The JV has been set up to meet the needs of the many carmakers setting up business in eastern Europe. Proseat, a maker of automotive seat foam, and US based seating giant Johnson Controls will invest in two plants, in Lucenec, Slovakia and Zory, Poland.
Johnson Controls will own 65 percent and Proseat 35 percent of the JV, Proseat said. In Slovakia, the operation will use current capacity at Johnson Controls' plant in Lucenec. A new plant in Poland will start operating in November 2007 and will employ around 130 people.
The JV takes Proseat's plant tally to thirteen sites. Johnson Controls has been continually expanding its presence in the "new growth markets and now has over 23 locations in Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Russia and Turkey," said the Proseat statement.
The new venture will allow both companies to meet future demand in eastern Europe by producing close to the customer and in a cost efficient way, Proseat said. Johnson Controls' automotive product portfolio includes seating systems, instrument panels/cockpits, door and overhead systems, interior electronics and electrical energy management.
Proseat is a joint venture between the Belgian company Recticel, a leading producer of polyurethane parts with about a hundred production units in 26 countries, and the Canadian company Woodbridge, a world-wide leader in automotive polyurethanes with production sites in North and South America, Australia and Asia.
Mörfelden, Germany-headquartered Proseat employs about 2000 in 11 locations in eight countries and is one of the main producers of PU moulded foam for automotive seating in Europe. As well as moulded foam, Proseat supplies also finished parts, such as headrests, armrests and side bolsters mainly based on polyurethanes.
Proseat has also just announced a JV with Foamline in Russia to supply the automotive market in the CIS. "
