ZKW Group (Wiener Neustadt / Austria; www.zkw-group.com) is in the process of enlarging the manufacturing capacities at its international locations. The production area of the facility in Silao / Mexico, which has been manufacturing headlights for premium car makers such as BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM, Nissan, VW and Volvo since 2015, will be increased before the end of 2020 by 19,000 m² to 41,000 m². The extension will be equipped with injection moulding machines, coating machines for plastic diffuser lenses, painting lines, metallisation equipment for reflectors, and headlight assembly lines.

Completion is scheduled for October 2020, with production expected to begin in August 2021. By 2023 the number of employees at the site is to double from the present 700 to 1,400. The investment will amount to EUR 67.5m. "The site in Silao plays a strategically important role in the ZKW production network because it offers attractive framework conditions for the automotive supplier industry," said CEO Oliver Schubert. The framework conditions will nevertheless receive a damper through the new free trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada (see Plasteurope.com of 12.12.2019).

At the Slovakian site of Krušovce, the company's largest expansion project to date has now gone on stream, with the official opening taking place on 14 September. The expansion, for which ZKW invested around EUR 155m, doubled the production area for headlamps and lighting systems and created a new office wing with a training centre. In addition to the manufacturing of plastic parts with 45 injection moulding machines, the plant will in future also produce plastic lenses and modules. Krušovce is ZKW's second largest production site with a workforce of around 2,500. “The expansion of the Slovakian plant will enable us to increase our competitiveness and contribute an even higher share to the ZKW Group’s added value in the future," said Schubert.