In the presence of the Portuguese Secretary of State of Industry Ana Teresa Lehmann, the Eberspaecher Group of Companies recently opened a new exhaust technology plant in Tondela, Portugal. The plant has been designed specifically for the production of passenger car exhaust systems for European automobile manufacturers. The company said recently acquired orders necessitated expansion of production capacity of the European Exhaust Technology division.
In a ceremonial act, the official commencement of production for exhaust systems was inaugurated at the Tondela site. For Eberspaecher, this represents the first successful entrepreneurial step in Portugal.
“In the record time of less than 10 months, we have established a new plant and integrated it into our production network. This was only possible thanks to the excellent cooperation between all those involved, as well as the exemplary support received from the city and the country as a whole,” said Managing Partner Heinrich Baumann.
The location is especially significant for Dr. Thomas Waldhier, chief operating officer of the Eberspaecher Exhaust Technology division. “This plant represents an important milestone for the expansion of our European exhaust technology production network.” He underlined the reason behind the selection of the location. “Tondela provides us with the optimal starting point for establishing closer ties with our customers on the entire Iberian Peninsula. In addition to the excellent logistical integration, the availability of very well-trained personnel also represented a persuasive argument.”
The plant location also features an office complex in addition to the production and logistics building. The facility supplies the plants of European automobile manufacturers in Spain, Portugal and Northern Morocco with hot-end and cold-end components for diesel and gasoline vehicles. This includes complete exhaust systems as well as gasoline particulate filters and catalytic converters.
By 2020, the plant is scheduled to achieve an annual production capacity of 2.5 million exhaust system components at full production levels. This equates to producing a catalytic converter on the automatic and highly flexible production lines every 25 seconds at full capacity. In 2017, Eberspaecher will generate around 120 local jobs; in the medium-term, the plan is to increase the workforce to as many as 550 employees.
