TRW to open three new plants in China

By the end of next year, TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. intends to have opened three further plants in China. Two of these facilities will be located on the same site in Zhanghjiagang, Jiangsu province; the first, a factory dedicated to braking, will start operations at the end of the second quarter of 2015, while a November 2015 start is planned for the other, an occupant safety systems facility. The third plant is located in Xian and is also an occupant safety systems factory. It should be operational by the third quarter of 2016.

“The opening of these new facilities demonstrates our continued investment in China and our commitment to supporting the rapid growth of the automotive market here,” commented Mark Stewart, TRW Asia Pacific region vice-president. “Our new facilities will support our customers – both domestic and global – with a number of upcoming launches.”

TRW’s braking plant, which covers an area of 23,000 square metres, will manufacture and assemble technologies including electric park brake (EPB), integrated park brake and front calipers, as well as housing machining, carrier machining and actuation machining and assembly. By the end of 2016, it is planned that over 750 people will be employed at the plant.

The nearby occupant safety systems plant, which covers an area of 16,000 square metres, will assemble driver, passenger, side and curtain airbags as well as seat belt technologies including TRW’s FS1 and SPR4 retractors, buckle head and hood lifters. TRW anticipates that around 500 people will be employed at the facility by the end of 2016.

Finally, TRW will localise inflator production at its occupant safety systems facility in Xian, which is planned to start operations in July 2016.

“With our new facilities, we will have a total of 25 operations in China and in excess of 10,000 employees since we began operations over 20 years ago. This includes the recent opening of the company’s largest research and development centre in the world which is located in Anting,” continues Stewart. “With leading positions across each of our product lines and a strong footprint in China, TRW is ideally positioned to help vehicle manufacturers in China meet the growing safety and environmental requirements.”