Auto component manufacturer Brose India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of 4.7 billion euro Brose Group of Germany, has expanded its capacity to cater to rising demand from the domestic automobile companies and international markets.
The privately-held company did not disclose the investment made in India so far but said that it had moved to a facility with a floor space of 46,000 sq. ft., that is, three times bigger than the engineering centre that was initially set up in 2008 in Pune.
The company is installing new testing and prototyping equipment at the new plant. “The bigger facility will help increase our range of locally manufactured products and further enhance the local value addition to product development,” Ashwani Aggarwal, President, Brose India, said.
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At present, the company is manufacturing components in two areas, namely, door products and seat height adjusters. Production is anticipated to reach 2.4 million units by 2015.
In 2011, the company started producing window regulators, and in 2012, it added the production of manual seat height adjusters. In 2014, it will add side door latch, and plans to manufacture its entire product range as per market demand. The company, which at present employs 240 people at the engineering centre as well as the manufacturing unit, targets to generate a turnover of 50 million euro by 2019.
He said globally, Brose invested 8 per cent of its turnover in business expansion and research and development. About 20 per cent of this fund was expected to be utilised in Asia, which, he said,was an emerging market for the German family-owned company. In 2014, the company planed to spend 312 million euro globally and aimed to close this year with a turnover of 5 billion euro, he added. In India, the company supplies components to General Motors, Ford, Nissan, Tata Motors, Mahindra and Honda. Thirty-three per cent of the production from the Indian unit was exported to Brose’s clients abroad, Mr. Aggarwal added.
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