Nexteer Automotive celebrated the opening of a state-of-the-art Technical Center in Suzhou Industrial Park, China during a grand opening ceremony. The company’s latest addition to its global footprint further enables the Company to globalise its engineering expertise, enhance local technical support and capitalise on emerging market growth opportunities in Asia Pacific.
The grand opening ceremony was attended by Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Suzhou Municipal Committee, Party Secretary of CPC SIP Working Committee, Wu Qingwen, Member of CPC SIP Working Committee, Vice Chairman of SIP Administrative Committee, Liu Hua, Deputy Secretary of SIP High-end Manufacturing and International Trade Zone Working Committee, Deputy Director of SIP High-end Manufacturing and International Trade Zone Administrative Committee, Meng Hong, as well as Guibin Zhao, Chief Executive Officer, Nexteer Automotive; and Robin Milavec, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer & Chief Strategy Officer, Nexteer Automotive.
“Relentless innovation and customer responsiveness have been in Nexteer’s DNA since our beginning more than 110 years ago and drives the purpose of our new, state-of-the-art Asia Pacific Technical Center,” said Milavec. “Nexteer’s Asia Pacific Technical Center expands our global engineering expertise, enhances our local customer support and facilitates our growth in emerging markets, especially China.”
The new Nexteer Asia Pacific Technical Center covers an area of more than 30,000 square meters, including 19,000 square meters of office buildings, 12,800 square meters of research and development (R&D) labs and 1,500 square meters of test tracks. Together, these capabilities provide in-house ownership of a systematic and comprehensive engineering processes in one site: from prototyping to testing, from mechanical design to software design, from test track to global manufacturing footprint in close proximity to Nexteer’s customers. The technical center will also serve as the headquarters of Nexteer’s Asia Pacific Division, housing corporate functions such as sales, purchasing, finance and more.
“As a leader in intuitive motion control, Nexteer leverages our strengths in advanced steering and driveline systems to tailor solutions for our customers all over the world,” said Zhao. “The Asia Pacific Technical Center is an important part of Nexteer’s global engineering footprint strategy and serves as the hub for our Column-assist Electric Power Steering product line. This new Asia Pacific Technical Center further expands the globalization of our engineering expertise and drives efficiencies both locally and globally.”