Continental inaugurates powertrain plant expansion in Wuhu, China
Germany’s Continental AG announced the official opening of its new powertrain plant in Wuhu, China. With an investment of almost USD31 million for land and building, phase I encompasses an area of more than 24,000 square metres and houses 22 production lines. The shop floor is also equipped with a quality analysis room, a spare parts room, and a sample room. In the course of the ramp-up, more than 600 new jobs will be created at the location.
“China is the world’s largest automotive market and I am delighted to witness the opening of the new powertrain facility in Wuhu,” said Andreas Wolf, CEO of Continental’s Powertrain Division. “Our new plant in Wuhu is not only a reaction to the growing demand for powertrain technologies in China, driven by local and global emission targets, but also demonstrates our strong confidence in and commitment to our local customers and business partners.”
A variety of energy-saving solutions have been adopted in the areas of infrastructure, production equipment, and the overall facility energy control system.
“With the fast development of China’s urbanization, air pollution in China’s key urban areas is a significant issue, and with 1.4 billion Chinese people there is a huge demand for clean mobility,” said Enno Tang, president and CEO of Continental China. “The opening of our new facility in Wuhu enhances our capability to meet customer requirements in terms of both combustion and electric technologies. ”With its strong production footprint in China, Powertrain is pursuing its ‘local for local’ strategy to better serve the customers in the region.
“The extended facility will further enlarge our product portfolio in China,” said Gregoire Cuny, head of Powertrain China. “Going forward we will further enhance our local competence in electrification and low-emission drivetrain technologies, helping to build clean mobility for local customers.”
Starting in July, a variety of drivetrain product, including thermal management components as well as sensors and actuators for internal combustion engines and new energy vehicles, will be produced in the new plant. One key product is the Coolant Flow Control Valve (CFCV) which is part of the Powertrain Division’s thermal management system. It serves to flexibly switch heating and cooling circuits so as to route available heat or cold to the right places.
The new facility will feature smart factory solutions. In terms of intelligent logistics, for example, it is planned to use autonomous Automated Guided Vehicles (aAGV) within a smart fleet management system. For the design of the new production lines, the low-cost automation (LCA) concept was adopted, leading to significant cost reduction and quality improvement.
