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Overseas plants
r KIRCHHOFF Automotive continues to expand
New plant in China nearing completion
The new 10,000-m 2 large production building
and over 1,000 m 2 of office space will be finished
according to schedule in May 2008. This means
that production will be able to start in June as
planned. This signifies the end of one of the most
exciting projects that the Manufacturing Engineering
Group headed by Armin Berthold has
ever carried out.
Under the management of Lutz Leibe, the most
ambitious construction project in the history of
KIRCHHOFF Automotive is successfully coming
to a conclusion. The project took eight months to
complete and was full of surprises, both great and
small. The greatest challenges were the determining
and implementing of quality standards, the
cooperation with local authorities and, last but not
least, the support of the construction site.
The close communication between the on-site
project management team in China and the central
planning team in Attendorn was a particularly
crucial factor.
Visits to the site in China took place every four
to six weeks throughout the entire planning and
construction phase.
Those involved will not, however, have many opportunities
to sit back and take a break because
work is continuing feverishly to install the presses
and robot welding facilities and also to train the
new Chinese employees. This is due to the fact that
GM will already be starting to produce the latest
Vectra in August to coincide with the series startup
in Europe.
Stefan Leitzgen
The manufacture of structural
parts in China will be commencing
in June with 1,000 m2 of
office space and a 10,000-m2 production area.
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