ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Affinia Group recently held a grand opening event for its new brake parts manufacturing center in China.  The new manufacturing center will focus on the production of friction components, disc brake pads and accessories.
 
The 383,000-square-foot facility, which operates under the name Affinia Qingdao Braking System, Co. Ltd., is located in Laixi, which is north of Qingdao in the Wangcheng Industry Zone. When fully operational, the manufacturing center will employ approximately 500 people and have an annual capacity of 10 million pad sets.  
 
"By continuing to expand our manufacturing resources around the world, we are delivering on our World Smart business model and utilizing the Affinia Quality Assurance System to maintain consistent quality of aftermarket products at globally competitive costs," said Terry McCormack, Affinia president and CEO. "This new facility will also enhance our ability to serve the rapidly growing domestic market in China, which is experiencing continued growth in private vehicle ownership."
 
Affinia also completed construction of a new filtration manufacturing facility in China earlier this year. Located in Longkou City, Shandong, the new filtration plant is located near Affinia’s existing Haimeng brake components facility, which is one of the largest in the world and operated in partnership with Zhang Haibo, president of Haimeng.