IAC Group has broken ground on a greenfield plant in Opole, Poland, as part of its bid to expand its manufacturing footprint further into Eastern Europe.
In a Feb. 7 statement, the Luxembourg-headquartered company said that the $20 million Polish facility will manufacture “tailored” instrument panels for premium passenger cars and will be operational in mid-2017.
The plant will be constructed in various phases throughout 2017, and will cover an area of 27,000 square meters.
The Opole plant will be IAC's 27th facility in Europe and will serve its strategy to grow in the Eastern European automotive market.
Initially built to provide customized instrument panels, the plant has also been designed to support future growth by supplying other interior products to vehicle manufacturers in the region.
The facility will be will focus on cut and sew operations as well as hand-wrapped instrument panels.
The new facility is expected to create 550 skilled jobs in the region.
“The IAC Opole installment is aligned with IAC's 2020 Vision, our global strategy of supporting our customers with innovative and high quality interiors solutions,” said IAC senior vice president cockpit and overhead systems Europe Marcus Nyman.