Spanish automotive interior specialist Grupo Antolin has opened a new production facility and a technical center in Bamberg, Germany, to boost its integrated automotive lighting operations.
Focused on lighting electronics, the production facility features "the latest and most advanced technology and process" and will produce 2,500 products for premium carmakers, Antolin said in a May 16 news release.
In addition to the production plant, the Bamberg site will include a "state-of-the-art" technical center focused on developing lighting technologies and new generation of dynamic ambient lighting products.
The Spanish supplier has invested 11.5 million euros ($12.8 million) in the new facility, which will replace Antolin's old plant in Bamberg, and in production to launch new lighting projects at the location.
The new unit, according to Antolin, will be the group's "lead lighting electronics plant," supplying components to car makers and other Antolin production units.
Grupo Antolin, which doubled in size in 2015 when it purchased the interiors business of Magna International Inc., is positioning itself as a global maker of interior parts that integrate lighting and electronics.
"Grupo Antolin can deliver an extensive and complete range of interior lighting to customers and do so on a global scale by leveraging our large industrial network," Chairman Ernesto Antolin said at the opening event.
The company, Ernesto Antolin went on to say, is currently investing in developing new lighting solutions with an emphasis on electronics which can be combined with the decorative items.
These include integrated lighting solutions for doors, instrument panels, overheads and sunvisors.
The new German facility is the latest in a series of investments by the Spanish group to bolster the industrial structure of its lighting business unit globally.
Last year it unveiled its new 2.6 million euro ($2.9 million) Guangzhou plant specialising in lighting solutions for the Chinese market.
More recently, the company secured an agreement with the Chinese HiRain group to develop new and innovative lighting systems for the local market.
Sales within the company's lighting business unit rose 8 percent year-on-year last year to 349 million euros ($389.5 million).
The new site is expected to launch 30 new projects around the world this year.