— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

Automotive supplier Witte (Velbert, Germany; www.witte-automotive.com) has announced the expansion of its production capacities in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. The company is building a second plant in Ostrov, Czech Republic, where the specialist for locking systems has located the majority of its injection moulding production. The new hall, which is due to be completed next year, will double the area at the site to over 50,000 m². This will create space for newly acquired projects, COO Kersten Janik told Plasteurope.com. The company employs a total of around 2,000 at its two Czech sites in Ostrov and Nejdek. 

Witte has also expanded one of its plants in Ruse, in northern Bulgaria, albeit to a much lesser extent. The area there has been expanded by 50% to 1,800 m². Janik explained that the expansion allows production processes to be interlinked, as additional injection moulding capacities can now be set up directly next to the assembly area. The hall is to be filled in the course of the coming year. The machinery at Ruse currently comprises a good dozen machines. “Another dozen will be added,” said Janik. 

Witte acquired the site in Ruse in 2023 when the company took over partner Forez Bulgaria. The company had already been producing parts for the German supplier. However, new production technologies were then to be added, and Witte wanted to retain its intellectual property rights. So, the company agreed to purchase a majority stake in the partner company, which generated annual sales of the equivalent of EUR 6 mn with 60 employees. The entire takeover followed in July 2024, and the former Forez Bulgaria has since become part of the existing group unit Witte Automotive Bulgaria. 

Related: Economic woes stall automotive sales growth

The acquisition that made Witte the sole owner of the Vast Automotive Group in 2023 was economically more significant. Although the Vast activities in Brazil and South Korea were transferred to the two US co-shareholders, the takeover massively strengthened Witte’s presence in China, Japan, and India. As a result, the Witte Group increased its turnover by a good 30% to around EUR 800 mn and the number of employees to around 5,700. 

In addition to the headquarters in Velbert, where an innovation centre, special machine construction, and purchasing and logistics management are located, Witte operates an injection moulding plant in Bitburg (formerly RiKu) and a production facility for stamped and die-cast products in Niederberg, both in Germany. 

Despite the significant expansion of activities, however, there are natural limits to upward growth. As a supplier of locking systems, the company is not so badly affected by the transition to e-mobility – because electric cars also need doors and locks – but the general crisis in the automotive industry and the huge cost increases are putting pressure on the supplier. “The market situation is not much fun at the moment,” said Janik. “The whole brutal situation doesn’t stop at us, either. We are fighting like crazy.”