Czech Republic – The facility will cost €18.5m ($19.9m) to build and will account for a proportion of the €92.5m Schaeffler is spending in the region over the next three to five years. The majority of the total investment will go towards the purchase of new machines for both Svitavy and an existing plant in Lanškroun.
“The main focus will be on manufacturing thermal management modules (TMMs), for which there has recently been an extremely high demand from Schaeffler's existing customers,” said Jan Goláň, plant manager at INA Lanškroun. “We are also confident that we will acquire further customers as well.”
According to Schaeffler, the TMM is “key to achieving a reduction of up to 4% in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions”. The module controls thermal conditions for the entire drive system, enabling the engine to achieve optimum operating temperature in a short period of time.
The first machines at Svitavy will come online in autumn 2016, with full ramp-up due by 2019. Schaeffler expects its investment to create 960 jobs.