BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – Johnson Controls has announced the opening of a new automotive business center in Slovakia.

The new center in Bratislava is home to 180 employees currently working in the areas of finance, purchasing, information technology and human resources. According to the company, another 170 new jobs will be created there by the end of 2008 in order to support the future growth in the Eastern European growth markets.

"Bratislava's central position and good infrastructure with available workforce capabilities were the decisive factors in choosing this location. As important, the growth markets in Eastern and Central Europe can be equally well accessed from here," said Richard Johnson, vice president, Information Technology and general manager of the Johnson Controls Automotive Business Center.

This new automotive business center, combined with its engineering center in Trencin, Slovakia, will allow Johnson Controls to strengthen its local presence in Slovakia and put it in an even better position to support its customers in these strong growth markets.

"Furthermore, it will provide leadership and service delivery capabilities of core business processes in finance, purchasing and information technology supporting our entire European automotive business," said Johnson.

The Automotive Business Center in Bratislava is the only facility in Europe complementing Johnson Controls' European headquarters in Burscheid, Germany, in these functions. Johnson Controls has been in Slovakia since 1993 and currently employs a total of 3,300 employees at seven locations. Besides the new Automotive Business Center in Bratislava, the company presence in Slovakia includes an engineering center in Trencin and production plants in Lozorno, Lucenec, Martin, Namestovo and Zilina.

For more information about Johnson Controls, visit: http://www.johnsoncontrols.com.