Governor of Michigan visits Brose
Hallstadt (August 24th, 2007). On August 24th, Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor of the US Federal State of Michigan, visited Brose’s Upper Franconian location of Hallstadt near Bamberg during her trip to Europe. The company’s worldwide door system activities are controlled and coordinated from Hallstadt. The US politician met up for two hours of talks with board members Kurt Sauernheimer (Door Systems), and Jan Kowal (Brose North America) to discuss extending Brose’s commitment.
New customer projects have made it necessary to examine the Brose Group’s North American affiliation of manufacturing facilities; in this respect, a location in Michigan is also under review.
At present, Brose has five production facilities in the USA, Canada and Mexico for supplying the North American market with window regulators, door systems, closure systems and seat adjusters; all sales and engineering activities in this region are coordinated from the Brose Headquarters in Detroit.
"Brose is exactly the kind of company I want to be a part of the revitalization of Michigan's economy and their proposed production facility would be a win for both the company and our state," said Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. "The project would create jobs while strengthening the company's North American presence."
During her tour of the premises, the politician was impressed by the modern production and development facilities as well as the standard of quality apparent in all areas of the company. She described Brose’s “New Organizational Model” as “exemplary”.
For some years now, Brose has maintained close contact with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Back in 2004, during the planning phase of construction activities for Brose’s headquarters in Detroit, the company’s experience in its dealings with local authorities was very good. Jan Kowal recalls: ”Construction work, which had to be completed within seven months, was preceded by exceptionally fast negotiations with very little red tape involved in the administrative approval procedures.”
Since entering the North American market about 15 years ago, the Brose Group’s business volume in this region has increased to 500 million US-dollars and is anticipated to reach approx. 800 million US-dollars by 2011.
Its customers include the Big Three, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, as well as the production plants of BMW, Daimler, Toyota and Volkswagen, Over the upcoming years, Brose is also planning to intensify its business with the Asian automakers, which have production facilities in North America.
Press contact:
Gabi Rujoub
telephone: +49 9561 21 1653
fax: +49 9561 21 1704
E-mail: gabi.rujoub@brose.com
