New Plant Opened in Romania

It took less than a year from the start of construction to series production and on May 8th, 2019, KIRCHHOFF Automotive opened its second plant in Piteşti, Romania. In attendance along with shareholders Dr.-Ing. Jochen F. Kirchhoff, Arndt G. Kirchhoff and J. Wolfgang Kirchhoff, representatives from important Romanian customers and official representatives of different regional institutions took part in the festivities.

“This plant and the one in Craiova, demonstrate the confidence that you as an organization have in the Romanian automotive industry, Romanian workforce and Romania itself. On behalf of Ford, I would like to echo that trust,” said Ian Pearson, President of Ford Romania. Currently, 40 employees work in the 3,100 m² plant. They produce 90 different parts for passenger cars and commercial vehicles of the customers Volkswagen, Daimler, Ford and PSA. The core technologies at this location are forming and joining technologies. The plant was built according to the latest Lean standards and the team implemented the Industry 4.0 platform in the production area.

KIRCHHOFF Automotive has invested around $10 million euros in the plant. The automatic servo presses with pressing forces from 250 to 630 tons are state of the art for cold forming. Up to six devices are applied for parts assembly by nut and bolt pressing. 3D measuring devices work with a precision of 1/100 mm and therefore can comply with even to the smallest tolerances.

The plant in Piteşti supplies further European KIRCHHOFF Automotive locations as well as customers in Eastern Europe with stamping parts. The strategic location of the plant plays a crucial role because of its proximity to OEMs located in Romania and to the A1 highway, part of Pan-European corridor IV that links Romania to the rest of Europe.

You can see a video of the construction of the plant here.