Rieter Automotive Systems and Nihon Tokushu Toryo (Nittoku) inaugurated a new plant 6 Oct 2010. A Rieter statement said the opening of this Rieter Nittoku Automotive Sound Proof Products India plant in Chennai, India, "is the latest step in the partners' ongoing strategy in Asia of meeting demand in the region's booming markets."
Wolfgang Drees, Rieter Automotive Systems ceo, Masahiro Nojima, president of Nittoku and Ralph Ruthner, the Chennai plant manager, welcomed numerous government officials and automotive industry executives to the inauguration with a traditional lamp-lighting ceremony.
The plant is in the SIPCOT Industrial Growth Center on the outskirts of Chennai, which is in Southern India. The new facility expands the capacity of the Rieter Nittoku joint venture to supply acoustic systems and components as well as heat-shields to clients in India and across the Asia region. These acoustic packages use proprietary Rieter Ultra Light technology that can reduce the weight of the acoustic package of a car by up to 40 -percent, as well as improving vehicle comfort.
Rieter and Nittoku have a successful global supply network to serve OEM clients around the world. The Chennai plant is the fourth Rieter Nittoku joint venture in Asia, and will supply products based on the latest technology from Europe and Japan.
Rieter Automotive Systems opened its first India plant in Behror in 2006, a wholly owned Rieter subsidiary that manufactures felt, NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness) and damping parts.
As Nojima stressed during the opening ceremony: "Rieter and Nittoku have enjoyed over 40 years of cooperative and equal partnership with the aim of supplying acoustic parts to OEMs around the globe. We are honoured that our joint venture now contributes to the economic growth of India. "
Drees noted that, "After the successful openings of our joint venture plants in China, we moved quickly to open this new greenfield plant in Chennai with the goal of better meeting the growing demand from our global customers in India. Rieter and Nittoku stand behind the local automotive industry - in India and across Asia - in their efforts to develop and build world-class vehicles, using innovative lightweight acoustic and thermal management solutions."
The new plant has the latest production technologies from Europe and Japan, including the first fully robotic water-jet system in India for cutting carpets. The facility is spread over 11 acres (45 000 sq.m) and has been running since May 2010, producing moulded carpets, acoustic dashboard solutions, engine compartment parts and aluminium heatshields. The next expansion is set already for 2011, and will result in more automotive jobs in Chennai.
"Chennai is already well-known as a center of the Indian auto industry, and it will become a global automotive production hub thanks to the openness of the government of Tamil Nadu," Ruthner added. "Rieter and Nittoku are here to serve important OEM clients such as the Nissan and Toyota car manufacturing plants in the vicinity. Chennai provides Rieter and Nittoku as well as other automotive suppliers with a well-situated location for serving both the booming Indian market and international markets."
Rieter Automotive Systems is a leading global supplier of vehicle acoustic comfort and thermal management solutions for the automotive industry. In 2009, the company with 8600 employees worldwide posted sales of CHf 1424.3 million.
Nihon Tokushu Toryo (Nittoku) was established more than 80 years ago for manufacturing aircraft paints and has been expanding
in the automotive industry as a supplier of coatings and soundproofing materials for 50 years. Nittoku has two divisions, Automotive Products and Paints & Coatings, and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
PIC: L-R: Ruthner, Nojima, Drees, M.K. Stalin (Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu), T.M. Anbarasan (Minister of Labor of Tamil Nadu), Philippe Welti (Ambassador of Switzerland to India), Kazuo Minagawa (Consul General of Japan to Chennai), Akira Sakurai (ceo & managing director of Renault Nissan Automotive India).
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