Valeo have opened a global electronics expertise centre in Shenzhen and a wiper systems production plant in Wenling, China. The new electronics centre, which will employ more than 100 engineers by the end of the year and 200 by 2015, will develop electronic hardware services for all Valeo Group entities. It will also play a major role in the future development of electronic components for electric vehicles.
The new center is located within Valeo’s Shenzhen production plant which has just been extended by 5,000 m2, enabling it to significantly increase its production of top column modules, switches and control panels, and ultrasonic systems. The centre will provide electronics engineering services, CAD, layout engineering and supplier quality support for all Valeo product lines. It has hardware test benches, thermal chambers and electromagnetic compatibility test equipment.
CEO Jacques Aschenbroich says the new centre and plant are part of Valeo’s “strategy to accelerate its development in fast growing markets, in particular in China where the Group aims to double its sales by 2015.” Aschenbroich says R&D activity is key to support this development, and predicts the engineer count in China will more than double from 1,300 in 2010 to 3,000 in the next five years. Asia is one of Valeo’s key markets, where 19% of total sales came from in 2010. Aschenbroich expects this to rise to around 30% in 2015. In 2010, Valeo Group employed nearly 8,000 people in China in 15 production sites, 3 R&D centres, 8 engineering centres and an aftermarket distribution centre.
