Brose Group steps up activities in the North American market

Coburg/Tuscaloosa (gr). From 2004 onward, the automotive supplier Brose will be supplying its North American customers with door systems and seat adjusters from three plants in the USA and Canada. In the course of these expansion activities in this market, another production site, in addition to plants in Canada and Chicago/Illinois, is to be built in Tuscaloosa County in the State of Alabama. Over the next fourteen months, the Brose North American Headquarters designed to coordinate and manage all activities on the North American market will also be set up in Auburn Hills/Detroit, the centre of the American automotive industry.

On Wednesday, Bob Riley, Governor of the US State of Alabama, paid a visit to two of the Brose locations, Coburg and Hallstadt. Welcoming the expansion activities of the international corporate group in the USA, the statesman said: “I am very pleased to say that with Brose we have found a new partner who will create additional jobs in Alabama.“

Riley was very impressed by the systematics and constant endeavor to continuously improve products and processes, describing the “Brose Working World“ concept with its flexible office organization as “exemplary“. He also expressed great interest in the state-of-the-art production and development facilities as well as the high standard of quality in all areas of the international corporate group.

Construction activities for the new door system plant will officially begin in Tuscaloosa County on 9 July. “The negotiations and approval of this construction project, which is scheduled to be completed within seven months, were extraordinarily fast and unbureaucratic,” pointed out company shareholder Maximilian Stoschek in Coburg on Wednesday.

“The State of Alabama and Tuscaloosa County will be providing subsidies totaling nearly 1.5 million US dollars to help establish Brose in this region;” continued Stoschek. Brose will initially create 80 new jobs in Tuscaloosa and invest some 13 million US dollars in buildings and equipment. “Brose Tuscaloosa will be our sixth location in North America and a major contributor to our company’s continued growth,“ said Executive Vice-President Kurt Sauernheimer.

Represented in the USA since 1993, the Brose Group currently enjoys a market share of about 20% in the window regulator segment and 40% in door systems. “Over the past ten years there has been a great increase in our volume of business in North America. In 2003 this is expected to reach 250 million US dollars,“ explained Jan Kowal, President of Brose North America Inc. In addition to an increase in window regulator and door system sales, he also anticipates further growth in the seat adjuster business in the USA.

Since the nineties, the automotive supplier has also been operating two production sites at Querétaro and Puebla in Mexico. These sites supply the North American market.