ZF Group to open a new plant and high-tech development center in NL
Nuevo León
By Perla Eunice
ZF Group , one of the top five suppliers to the automotive industry in the world, announced the upcoming construction of a new manufacturing plant, a research and development center for new technologies, and an administrative hub .
In total, the company will create around 800 new jobs . According to the directors, the investment amount was several tens of millions of dollars.
THREE PHASES OF THE PROJECT
Alberto de Icaza, director of government relations in Mexico at ZF Group, reported that the project is aimed at autonomous driving. The first stage is an administrative center in the Monterrey metropolitan area that will begin operating in a month.
The following is the opening of the production plant in late 2022 or early 2023, which will be located in the Finsa Industrial Park, in the municipality of Guadalupe, Nuevo León. In it, 4.8 generation cameras with a single 100-degree vision lens will be produced, located behind the rear-view mirror of the vehicles.
"The cameras have a special feature to detect if a pedestrian or cyclist is crossing and activate automatic braking or steering to avoid it. The information is processed through computers that we produce and the response signal is sent to the braking systems. and the engine, "he explained.
The third stage is the almost simultaneous construction of the technology development center. This will focus mainly on the development of new technologies for autonomous driving. "As you can see, we are talking about cutting-edge technology in the automotive industry. This technology center will support the other divisions that we have in Mexico in the same field and development and in shock absorbers, airbags, braking systems, steering, belts. security, flyers, etcetera ”.
ZF GROUP IN MEXICO
The company has 16 manufacturing plants in the country and employs around 23,000 people. Mexico is the second country where they have the most employees in the world, after Germany. Furthermore, “we are the second German company with the largest number of employees in Mexico. With this project and other organic growths in our plants, we will soon be the largest German plant in Mexico ”, highlighted de Icaza.
Globally, they employ 150,000 people, and their estimated sales for this year are around $ 40 billion. De Icaza reported that its strategy is focused on four areas: the traditional area, which consists of the dynamic control of the vehicle through gearbox systems, transmissions, brakes, steering systems, suspension, among others; the focus on occupant safety with airbags, seat belts, steering wheels and so on; The two remaining areas, he pointed out, have been developed in the last 10 years: electrification of the vehicle with electric motors and autonomous driving.
NUEVO LEÓN: A LEADER IN EDUCATION
“Nuevo León always figured on the list [of places to settle] with a strategic place due to the enormous production of high-level students in its university centers and leading engineering schools in Latin America. For us, it is the source of abstention for the development of technology ”, said de Icaza.
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