ThyssenKrupp on growth course in the North America region: New automotive supply plant opens in Mexico
ThyssenKrupp continues to expand in the North America growth region. ThyssenKrupp CEO Dr. Heinrich Hiesinger, Dr. Rafael Moreno Valle, Governor of the State of Puebla, Mexico and the German ambassador to Mexico Viktor Elbling today inaugurated a new components plant in Huejotzingo, Puebla which will manufacture steering systems for the automotive industry. The new facility in Mexico has the capacity to produce over one million steering columns, more than seven million steering shafts and over 45 million cold-forged steering parts per year for the North American market. ThyssenKrupp has invested around 90 million euros in the new production facility.
Dr. Karsten Kroos, CEO of the Components Technology business area at ThyssenKrupp: “Our order books are full so we are constantly expanding our production capacities in Mexico and the USA. In the past three fiscal years we have invested around 185 million euros here. Now we want to raise the tempo even more. To fulfil new orders we are planning further investment in North America averaging around 80 million euros a year up to 2020. Around half of this will go into expanding and building new plants in Mexico.”
These investments will focus on expanding production capacities for chassis and engine components. In February this year ThyssenKrupp opened a new front axle assembly facility in Puebla. The company is also currently building a further axle assembly plant 70 kilometers away in San Jose Chiapa to supply Audi beginning in 2016. In the coming year, work is expected to start on the construction of a production line for cylinder head covers at a new engine components plant in the Bajio region.
With this new steering plant, ThyssenKrupp now produces components for the automotive industry at four sites in Mexico. The product portfolio ranges from engine and steering components to springs and stabilizers to the assembly of axle modules.
The ThyssenKrupp components technology division currently employs around 4,500 people at 11 locations in North America, with Mexico accounting for almost half this figure. The construction of new plants is set to increase the number of employees in Mexico by approximately 40 percent in the next five years.
At the end of April, ThyssenKrupp also launched a broad-based marketing campaign for new materials and components for the automotive industry in the USA. In the coming weeks the company will present its “InCar plus” research and development platform to customers in the USA for the top American and Japanese auto manufacturers. The platform focuses on eco-friendly solutions for energy efficiency, electromobility and lightweighting. The “InCar plus” innovations can be used in the body, chassis, steering and powertrain.
Kellie Harris
Director, Media and Communications
ThyssenKrupp North America, Inc.
Phone: 1 (312) 525-2790
E-mail: kellie.harris@thyssenkrupp.com
ThyssenKrupp in the automotive industry
ThyssenKrupp is one of the world’s leading suppliers of materials and components to the auto industry. Nine out of ten premium class cars are fitted with components made by the company. One in three trucks feature drive components from ThyssenKrupp. In the 2013/2014 fiscal year ThyssenKrupp’s sales in the automotive sector came to around 9.5 billion euros. Customers include practically all the big auto manufacturers. In the past three years ThyssenKrupp has invested around one billion euros in its components business. Around 70 percent of this went into the global expansion of its auto components business in China, the North America region, Europe and Brazil.
ThyssenKrupp Components Technology business area
Employing around 29,000 people ThyssenKrupp produces high-tech components worldwide for the automotive and machinery sectors. In the auto sector the product range includes assembled camshafts, cylinder head modules with integrated camshafts, crankshafts, steering and damping systems, springs and stabilizers as well as the assembly of axle modules. In the machinery sector ThyssenKrupp supplies components for construction equipment, wind turbines and numerous general engineering applications. In fiscal year 2013/2014 the Components Technology business area achieved sales of 6.2 billion euros.
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