By Richard Higgs, Crain Communications
Spanish automotive interior components maker Grupo Antolin plans to invest Euro €6-7 million (about $8 million) in developing a production and warehouse facility in St Petersburg, Russia, by the end of this year.
The company, based in Burgos, Spain, already supplies headliners to the Ford Motor Corp. car plant in Vsevolozhsk near St Petersburg. It is also reported to have agreed to supply parts to other car makers including Nissan, Toyota and General Motors.
Earlier this year, the interior vehicle components and seating maker signed a 10-year lease on an industrial and storage unit of more than 10 000 sq.m in the Russian city's Multinational Logistics Partnership (MLP) complex in Utkina Zavod. The new unit is intended to replace an existing warehouse which Antolin has found inadequate to serve its growing number of automotive customers in the country.
The modern new facility, with "a large electrical capacity, increased floor loading and overhead cranes" will enable Antolin to serve its growing client base satisfactorily, according to Augusto Uretta, head of its Russian operations.
Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Antolin has suffered a setback as a result of devastating August floods following torrential rain storms which caused rivers to break their banks in the Czech Republic's northern Bohemia region.
The main Skoda Auto assembly plant at Mladá Boleslav was brought to a halt, and work at two other plants was also disrupted when floods halted production at the Spanish auto parts supplier's local subsidiary Grupo Antolin Bohemia.
Its Chastrava plant was flooded, stopping production and interrupting the supply of car headliner components to Skoda for several days, according to Central European news reports.
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