Poland – The 14,280 sq.m facility is being built next to the company’s existing facility in the south west of the country, which produces constant velocity joints, and will increase the overall footprint of the site by more than 50%. The expansion will boost GKN Poland’s driveshaft production capacity to over 10m units per year.
Phase One is costing 16.5m ($18m) and will create capacity for over 1m propshafts per year. GKN expects its new facility to be completed by April 2016 and to generate around 400 new jobs over the next four years. The plant will supply major OEMs in Europe and Russia, including Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes and FCA.
Helmuth Rohregger, GKN Driveline president Europe, commented: “Poland is an increasingly important automotive market, particularly as automakers expand into Eastern Europe, so this investment strengthens our position as the leading supplier of driveline technology to European manufacturers.”
GKN is also making a large-scale investment in its global technology network, and will expand the site’s technical capabilities. Peter Moelgg president of Engineering for GKN Automotive, said: “Olesnica is a perfect location for advanced technology research and development, with outstanding potential engineers and scientists available from excellent local universities.”