The cooperative is investing 30 million Euros in the construction of a factory on its Kunshan industrial estate (China), due to start operating in 2012.
The Fagor Ederlan cooperative, dedicated to the production of components for the automobile sector, is set to inaugurate a new factory in China next year. The plant is to be located on the MONDRAGON industrial estate in Kunshan, close to Shangai, involving an investment of 30 million Euros.
Construction work on the plant has already started, with the project directed by LKS Engineering, and the production of fully machined aluminium hub carriers is scheduled to commence in 2012. The plant expansion plan for 2013 and 2014 encompasses the subsequent development of activities to machine other products such as iron hub carriers and brake discs, with an expected production of more than two million hub carriers (the majority of aluminium) and half a million discs.
Once the new factory is running at full capacity, it will employ around 100 workers.
With this new plant, Fagor Ederlan has consolidated its position as a global supplier, with a total of 16 production plants around the world, in addition to alliances formed in the USA and Korea.
As a final note, it should be highlighted that the Fagor Ederlan Group closed the financial year of 2010 with sales of 684 million Euros, employing a workforce of 3,500 persons.
Fagor Ederlan, a global supplier
FagorEderlanKunshan represents the culmination of a process initiated back in 2008 with the first direct sales made by Fagor Ederlan in China, through the General Motors Delta project. In this far-reaching project, Fagor Ederlan was the supplier to design the hub carrier at a global level and was also the global vendor responsible for supplying this part throughout the world. To achieve this, for non European markets, Fagor Ederlan developed a network of production alliances with third parties, to guarantee the global response required by the customer in markets such as Korea, China and the USA, whilst centralising the entire European supply from its plants in the Basque Country. This project is to reach a figure of 3 million hub carriers, positioning Fagor Ederlan as the leading European supplier in the aluminium hub carrier market.