Lighting technology and electronics supplier Hella (Lippstadt / Germany; www.hella.com) is to build a 11,000 m² administrative and technical centre in Northville, Michigan / USA, by the beginning of 2019. The new complex will replace the existing building a few kilometres away in Plymouth. Apart from corporate functions such as purchasing, sales, information management and finance and controlling for the North American region, the site will also accommodate production lines for electronics products and lighting technology solutions. Within the next two years, the workforce in Northville will rise from 350 to 400 employees.

At the same time, the joint venture Beijing Hella-BHAP Automotive Lighting, which is operated jointly with BAIC subsidiary Beijing Hainachuan Automotive Parts (BHAP), will put on stream another plant in Tianjin in the northern part of China. This production plant – Hella's fifth in China – will produce LED headlamps, rear lamps and sidelights as well as interior lighting systems.

For the construction of the 12,000 m² production plant with a capacity of 1.2m lamps per year, the jv invested what it describes as a "small to medium double-digit million-euro sum." Currently, 100 employees are working in Tianjin, and this number is to go up to 250 within the next two years.