Nexteer Automotive, a global leader in intuitive motion control, opened its third manufacturing plant on April 13 in Europe. The company also announced the upcoming opening of its first technical center in Tychy, Poland, in mid-2016. The overall investment will exceed $16 million USD and the company says it is planning to significantly enlarge this figure in the upcoming years.
The new plant will allow Nexteer to expand its manufacturing capabilities for electric power steering (EPS) systems for its current European customers, including BMW, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot Citroen. In addition to current investment in the new manufacturing building, the company also plans to expand investments in high-technology equipment and tools in the upcoming years, enhancing Nexteer’s premium EPS systems for European and global customers.
“Tychy, Poland, is a perfect environment for our technical center for many reasons, such as close proximity to one of our plants, the great pool of talent with experienced engineers and technical universities, plus the special economy zones and collaborative local authorities who share common sustainable growth goals with Nexteer,” added Laurent Bresson, president and chief operating office of Nexteer Automotive.
Nexteer’s Poland Technical Center will be responsible for design and development of new steering system solutions and will house an integrated team with capabilities including design, modeling, software, prototyping, vehicle testing and validation. The technical center investment reflects campus improvements including an engineering garage, test track, laboratory, prototype center and validation center. These resources will enable the Nexteer team to develop, assess, evaluate and improve steering system characteristics and vehicle steering performance.
In addition to facility investment, Nexteer plans to invest in staff by hiring more than 100 engineers in the coming year. The team located at the new technical center will engineer current and future EPS programs, and will support the development of advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) and autonomous technologies for some of the largest, global automotive OEMs, such as BMW, FCA, Ford, GM and PSA Peugeot Citroen.
This team will closely collaborate with colleagues at Nexteer’s Corporate Technical Centre in Saginaw, Michigan, as well as those located at other Nexteer facilities around the world.
Nexteer has already started to recruit for these technical positions at the new center. The company is searching for CAD / CAE designers, mechanical engineers, motors and sensors engineers, electronics embedded systems designers and software designers.
“Engineers working at our technical center will have a unique opportunity to design and develop technology for some of the most advanced steering systems – impacting the safety and comfort of millions of drivers around the world. You can say that R&D specialists are – not only in the automotive business – the best engineers who create innovative solutions to the toughest challenges. We are happy that it will be here, in Poland, where we will have the pleasure to develop experts shaping mobility of the future,” said Ryszard Iskra, Nexteer Automotive Poland technical director.
Currently Nexteer Automotive plants in Poland produce about 1.5 million steering systems annually for OEM models such as BMW i3 (BMW’s first fully electric vehicle), BMW 1 series, BMW 2 series Active Tourer, Mini Cooper, Alfa Romeo MiTo, Fiat 500, Opel Adam, Corsa and Insignia, Citroen C3 and DS3. At the turn of Q1/Q2 2016, Nexteer also will open its third European production plant, located near the existing facility that opened in 1997. Since 2010, Nexteer has invested more than $80 million USD in its facilities in Poland.
