Eberspaecher opens exhaust technology plant in Portugal

Esslingen / Tondela, 28 September 2017 − In the presence of the Portuguese Secretary of State of Industry Ana Teresa Lehmann, the Eberspaecher Group of Companies is today opening a new exhaust technology plant in Tondela, Portugal. The plant has been designed specifically for the production of passenger car exhaust systems for European automobile manufacturers. Recently acquired orders necessitated expansion of production capacity of the European Exhaust Technology division.

In a ceremonial act, the official commencement of production for exhaust systems was inaugurated at the Tondela site. For Eberspaecher, this represents the first successful entrepreneurial step in Portugal: “In the record time of less than ten months, we have established a new plant and integrated it into our production network. This was only possible thanks to the excellent cooperation between all those involved, as well as the exemplary support received from the city and the country as a whole,” as Managing Partner Heinrich Baumann emphasized.

The location is especially significant for Dr. Thomas Waldhier, COO of the Eberspaecher Exhaust Technology division: “This plant represents an important milestone for the expansion of our European exhaust technology production network.” He underlined the reason behind the selection of the location: “Tondela provides us with the optimal starting point for establishing closer ties with our customers on the entire Iberian Peninsula. In addition to the excellent logistical integration, the availability of very well trained personnel also represented a persuasive argument.”

An exhaust technology component plant covering 27,500 square meters
The 27,500 square meters of the plant, located on a site covering around 11.5 hectares in the Zona Industrial do Lajedo (Municipality of Tondela) industrial estate, were constructed in less than ten months. There is also an office complex in addition to the production and logistics building. The facility supplies the plants of European automobile manufacturers in Spain, Portugal and Northern Morocco with hot-end and cold-end components for Diesel and gasoline vehicles. This includes complete exhaust systems as well as gasoline particulate filters and catalytic converters. By 2020, the plant is scheduled to achieve an annual production capacity of 2.5 million exhaust system components at full production levels. This equates to producing a catalytic converter on the automatic and highly flexible production lines every 25 seconds at full capacity. In 2017, Eberspaecher will generate around 120 local jobs; in the medium term the plan is to increase the workforce to as many as 550 employees.

Continuing growth
Across the world, the automotive supplier provides its customers with exhaust emission conversion technologies from approximately 30 production sites. Eberspaecher last enlarged its European production capacity with a plant for passenger car exhaust technology in Oradea, Romania. The global growth strategy of this innovative leader also includes increased efforts in development activities. The Asian Tech Center is currently under construction in Shanghai. In future, this will concentrate the entire testing expertise and prototyping activities in exhaust system technology for Asian customers.



Media Contact:
Anja Kaufer
Director Public Relations Eberspächer Group
Phone: +49 711 939-0250
press[at]eberspaecher.com


***


About Eberspaecher:
The Eberspaecher Group is one of the world´s leading system developers and suppliers of exhaust technology, vehicle heaters and bus air conditioning systems. Eberspaecher is also a professional innovation partner for the automotive industry in air conditioning of special-purpose vehicles and in automotive electronics. Customers include almost all European and North American, and increasingly more Asian manufacturers of passenger cars and commercial vehicles. In 2016, the internationally positioned group, with more than 9,000 employees, posted sales of over 4.3 billion Euros.