KRONACH, GERMANY – Automotive interior parts supplier Dr Schneider Kunststoffwerke GmbH plans to expand its manufacturing plant in southwest Poland despite the continuing European car industry slowdown.
The Kronach, Germany-based group intends to invest more than 20 million euros in a project to install a sophisticated new production line and a research and development center at the Radomierz plant.
The additional production line will add new technology including thermal imaging cameras and an automatic quality control system.
Dr Schneider's latest Polish project, located in the Kamienna Góra special economic zone, has recently won formal investment approval from the authorities.
Radomierz site produces a wide range of automotive components, among them innovative air vent ventilation systems for many of the leading car manufacturers. Customers include Daimler, BMW, Jaguar, Porsche, Ford, VW/Audi and General Motors.
The plant currently employs around 700 directly with a further 200 working at another nearby site in Jelenia Góra. But expansion could in time raise the total workforce to around 1,200.
The German supplier group needed to grow its Polish capacity to handle a steady flow of new business and to meet new manufacturing challenges it is taking on.
To date, Dr Schneider, which has had 85 years of plastics molding experience, has invested in the region of 22 million euros in the Kamienna Góra SEZ. It originally launched the Radomierz facility in 2006.