K MOBIL ‹ - Kirchhoff Group

KIRCHHOFF Automotive Markets: New plants
China – the fastest growing
automotive market
z KIRCHHOFF Automotive follows its customers to China
KIRG.
INDIEN
Urumchi
•
NEPAL
BANGLAD.
Lhasa
•
BHUTAN
MONGOLEI
Harbin
•
Shenyang
•
PEKING
Tianjin•
Lanzhou
• Zhengzhou
Xi`an •
• Nanjing
• • Shanghai
Chengdu Wuhan •
Suzhou
•
•
Chongqing•
Kanton
•
N.KOREA
Taipei
•
TAIWAN
S.KOREA
BURMA
VIETNAM
Suzhou, in the east of China, is part of the metropolitan area of Shanghai
With the foundation of »KIRCHHOFF Automotive Suzhou
Company Ltd« KIRCHHOFF opens its 17th plant as 100%
subsidiary at Suzhou, China in the metropolitan area of
Shanghai.
Metal structural parts will be produced on an initial area of
2500 sqm (25,000 sq.ft.) for the Chinese production sites of
existing European KIRCHHOFF customers FORD and OPEL.
These include bumper systems for the FORD Fiesta and MAZDA
323 as well as Cross Car Beams for the OPEL Vectra. True to
the KIRCHHOFF Automotive strategy, both products and tools
were designed to perfection in close cooperation with customers
at the company's central development department located in
Attendorn, Germany before finally being passed on to China
for series production. Arndt G. Kirchhoff, CEO of KIRCHHOFF
Automotive emphasized: »We are not outsourcing, but
simply following our customers to the countries in which
they produce.«
In its initial phase of expansion, KIRCHHOFF Automotive China
will be employing 65 workers, led by a local management
team. »We wish to become a Chinese company in Suzhou in
the Shanghai metropolitan area. Our employees come from
that region and the heavy machinery, for instance the presses,
have all been purchased locally.
At least this makes it possible for our employees to read and
understand the manuals«, said Arndt G. Kirchhoff in an
KIRCHHOFF Automotive Suzhou Company Ltd.
interview with the »Iserlohner Kreisanzeiger«, a local German
newspaper.
KIRCHHOFF is planning to invest around 5 million euros in
presses ranging from 250-500 tons pressure capacity and
various types of gas welding equipment. The production will
be running at full capacity from November 2007, with a further
expansion projected for mid-2008. Operating permission for
the company was granted in June 2006.
After a benchmark analysis of seven industrial areas, KIRCHHOFF
Automotive finally decided for the Suzhou location because
of its proximity to customers, its infrastructure and its management
criteria. Suzhou, with its many canals, is often known
as the »Venice of the Orient« and its excellent transport
connections have been crucial in helping it become one of the
typical boom cities of modern China with over two million
inhabitants.
With the establishment of this plant, KIRCHHOFF Automotive
has taken the first step in the fastest growing automotive
market in the world. In 2007, the production of automobiles
in China will exceed that of Germany for the first time with
a planned production of 5.7 million vehicles. Growth rates in
double figures can be expected every year from now till 2012.
Ulrich G. Schröder
l 10 K›MOBIL | Issue 28 | December 2006