STOCKHOLM – Autoliv Inc. has announced it will invest around $50 million in a textile center in China. The company said the new center is needed to meet the strong demand for airbags in China and other Asian markets. The center also will make Autoliv more competitive by reducing supplier costs through vertical integration.
The textile center will consist of a weaving plant, an airbag cushion plant, and a development center for airbag cushions and textiles. The weaving plant will focus on manufacturing textiles for airbags using Autoliv’s patented “one-piece-woven” (OPW) technology. By using this efficient technology, the airbag cushions can be almost ready-made on the weaving loom. This plant will have a floor space of more than 8,000 square meters (almost 100,000 square feet) and around 150 employees.
In addition, a separate building of similar size will be constructed at the same site for airbag cushion manufacturing. This is a relocation from an existing site in the Shanghai area, allowing the current site to expand its airbag module manufacturing capacity. This airbag cushion operation will have around 1,000 employees.
In line with its strategy of globalizing products and processes, Autoliv says that when the project is complete it will have in-house manufacturing of OPW in all of its three regions, Europe, Americas, Asia, all produced according to the same process. The plant also will produce woven fabric for traditional “cut and sewn” cushions. A co-located development center for airbag cushions and textile also will be created. It will focus on standardized designs for the Asia region.
Globally, in 2012, Autoliv produced 70 million airbag cushions in-house and purchased 40 million from external suppliers for its total production of 110 million complete airbags.
“The textile center is very important to meet the increasing demand for airbags in China and other Asian markets,” said Jan Carlson, president and CEO of Autoliv Inc. “In addition, the textile center will increase our level of in-house component sourcing and enable standardized designs in the Asia region and globally, while shortening and streamlining our supply chain.”
