FOUNTAIN INN, SC — Kolbenschmidt Pierburg, a global supplier of powertrain components and systems, is expanding its Pierburg and KS Bearings operations in Fountain Inn, SC, the North American headquarters for both its Pierburg and KS Bearings businesses. The company said the expansion is driven by the significant growth both businesses are experiencing in the North American marketplace largely due to the increased attention of automotive manufacturers on fuel economy and emission controls.
The Pierburg business will take over the entire original structure the group has occupied for the past 10 years, providing it a total of 140,000 square feet of space, primarily for administration and manufacturing. Pierburg, which manufactures emission controls, oil, coolant and secondary air pumps, along with throttle bodies, and currently employs 120 people.
Andy Knackstedt, president of Pierburg, Inc., said: “With the increased demand in the North American automotive industry for vehicles that are both energy and emission efficient, we are well positioned to provide our global experience and technology to help address these important issues. We also realized that we needed to increase our investment in and expansion of our facility. Happily, we looked no further than Fountain Inn to meet our objectives because of our outstanding relationship with the city and the state, and its location that is central to our access to customers. Equally important to us is the quality workforce we have found in Fountain Inn who have helped us achieve one of the lowest defect rates for parts in all of Pierburg and among the lowest in the industry.”
The KS Bearings division, manufacturers of plain bearings, will be moving from the original Kolbenschmidt Pierburg facility of five years into a nearby 124,000 square foot building, over twice the amount of usable space the business currently has, to house administrative, manufacturing, research and development and rapid prototyping functions, as well as a new reliability and failure analysis operation. The facility will be fully functioning in early 2007 and will initially employ 60 people.
“Our KS Bearings business has made significant inroads in North America over the past few years in terms of new business, productivity, quality and profitability,” said David Mosier, president, KS Bearings, Inc. “The new facility will allow us to meet the growing demands of our customers both now and well into the future. And, I also echo Andy’s comment that the employees from the Fountain Inn area have provided us with the much needed technical expertise and staffing to make us a world class manufacturing operation that our customers respect and recognize.”
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