20 years Brose production in Hallstadt

Automotive supplier Brose celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Hallstadt production plant together with numerous guests from politics and industry on June 18th, 2010. The employees will commemorate this event with a family day on June 19th.

The Hallstadt location has gained considerable importance over the course of the years and it has a key function within the corporate group today: years of expertise in the development and sale of components and systems for vehicle doors and electronic sub-assemblies are pooled here. The door system business comprising 27 production plants worldwide is controlled from here and has a current annual turnover of 1.6 billion euros - which constitutes some 50% of the total sales of the Brose Group. At present, 1,200 people are employed in Hallstadt. In 2009, the location produced window regulators, door systems and electronic components to the tune of over 200 million euros

As Michael Stoschek, Chairman of the Brose Group, emphasized during the celebration, the Brose Group feels very much at home in the Bamberg area. Michael Stoschek was delighted with the naming of a street after company founder Max Brose, seeing it a as a token of Hallstadt's appreciation. He was also convinced that the Hallstadt location would benefit from the company’s continuing growth worldwide.

Dr Ludger Lührmann, Head of Development Doors/Closure Systems of Audi AG, emphasized in his speech the importance of family-owned companies such as Brose, as bastions of stability, distinguishing them from their competitors. The two companies are united by a shared company philosophy which spurs them on to top performance: stability, continuity, quality and enthusiasm. "Your performance is our success. Our cooperation is marked by your passion for the product." Lührmann continued to thank Brose for their many new and innovative product ideas and their cooperation in other areas.

Melanie Huml, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Bavarian Ministry for Environment and Health, congratulated company management on behalf of Horst Seehofer, the Bavarian State Premier: "We are proud to have you here in our region. Your company sets an important example - not only in Franconia but also worldwide."

Markus Zirkel, Mayor of Hallstadt, conveyed the town council’s best wishes and presented Hallstadt's coat of arms to Matthias Drewniok as a token of their appreciation: "Brose stands for long-term business decisions which have contributed to ensuring employment in Hallstadt and boosting its economy."

Promising start in 1990

At the end of the 1980s, the Bamberg region and its good national transport connections, well-skilled workforce and continuously growing population, provide excellent conditions for Brose to set up a second production plant in Germany, next to Coburg, for window regulators, the fastest-growing product segment at that time. During a tendering procedure across Bavaria, 50 locations are examined. On May 23rd, 1990, after nine months of building, production of the first window regulators for the new Audi 100 starts and is followed by the BMW 3-series, the VW Golf and Mercedes S-class. With an area of about 100,000 square meters, situated next to the A70 motorway, the location has sufficient space to allow for additional expansion.

Hallstadt location benefits from worldwide business growth

The above-average development of the window regulators and door systems business makes expansion inevitable within a few years to provide space for processing customer projects: in 1992, two years after the inauguration of the first building, production capacities are doubled, a high bay warehouse is built and a state-of-the-art logistics centre set up. Extensive building expansion starts in Hallstadt in 1999: an additional administration building and a modern social building are erected and facilities for the development, testing and production of electronics provided.

Due to the excellent national transport connections, the Upper-Franconian central location becomes the European spare parts center for door systems and window regulators: since 2006, the respective production facilities have been relocated from other European Brose locations to Hallstadt and pooled there.Following the pooling of all window regulator and door systems business in Hallstadt, further building expansion becomes necessary in 2007: a new building to accommodate testing facilities is erected as well additional social amenities, and the location infrastructure is adapted to the new requirements.

Plastic carriers for door systems "Made in Hallstadt"

To further increase system expertise in vehicle doors, the production of door system plastic carriers is set up in Hallstadt and a fully automatic injection molding machine taken into operation in 2007. The focus is on building up expertise in the development of highly integrative plastic door systems as well as material processing. In this way, Brose follows an increasingly important automotive trend: to reduce weight and increase function performance at the same time. Series production of the first door systems with plastic carriers starts in Hallstadt in 2008 for the Volvo XC60.

Investments for the future

Over the past 20 years, Brose has invested a total of almost 200 million euros in buildings, state-of-the-art production technologies, testing and logistics facilities as well as communications technology.

The future has begun

Accommodating the central development and production of electronic controls for window regulator and seat adjuster drives, the Hallstadt plant cooperates closely with the new Drives business division and the product group "New Products" and develops further innovative products for the market to make driving safer, more comfortable and more environmentally friendly. Examples are sunblind drives and display adjusters that are installed in various models of Audi, BMW and Porsche. Owing to this development, Hallstadt has more than 30 administrative or technical vacancies in 2010.