Leading automotive interior components supplier International Automotive Components (IAC) continues its consistent global expansion and dedication to delivering innovative vehicle interiors with the opening of a new engineering center in Pune, India and the groundbreaking ceremony for a major manufacturing site within General Motors new supplier park in Arlington, Texas, United States.
Marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the 2,415-square-meter (25,569-square-foot) facility in Pune, India officially opened on June 15, 2017 and will focus on application development engineering to support the vehicle interior needs of domestic and global customer programs. This opening increases IAC’s presence in India to six locations throughout the country and 28 design, technical, and commercial centers around the world.
“The newest IAC facility in Pune will further enhance our global integrated engineering solutions focused on the development of premium automotive interiors. All around the world our development activities focus on solutions to reduce weight and increase the use of renewable materials in vehicles while offering a superior driving experience”, said Marcus Nyman, senior vice president global strategic development.
With the ability to accommodate up to 150 employees, the dedicated engineering facility will provide design engineering and application development support to domestic vehicle manufacturing programs for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), such as Mahindra and Tata, as well as to IAC locations worldwide.
“These additional capabilities will help IAC in Europe to support our customers with premium engineering and efficient manufacturing, as IAC leverages the advantages of its integrated global development and production system”, explained Jonas Nilsson, IAC president of the European region.
Furthermore, General Motors announced plans to open a new supplier park to support future vehicle production at its Arlington Assembly, where IAC will establish one of its main manufacturing sites in the US. The new park is expected to house up to 1,250 employees, including more than 850 new jobs to Arlington, Texas. The new supplier park will consist of two industrial manufacturing and warehouse buildings comprising more than 1.2 million square feet combined.
“Our role as a supplier of vehicle interiors to GM extends back almost a century and this impressive new center marks a great beginning to our next century in partnership with this customer”, said Steve Miller, President and CEO of IAC.
Supplier parks locating near assembly plants result in significant savings from reduced transportation costs, higher quality communications and continuous improvement activities as suppliers are located closer to the final assembly location.
IAC is driven by a culture of relentless continuous improvement and over the past 12 months has executed steady growth around the world. In addition to the new engineering facility in Pune, IAC broke ground in Europe on a manufacturing plant in Opole, Poland in February 2017, began production at a new Czech Republic plant in July 2016, and entered the South American market with a new plant in Brazil in June 2016.
