Bosch to build auto parts factory in Dong Nai, Vietnam

HCMC, Sep 5, 2008. Germany’s Bosch Group will begin construction of an automotive belt factory in southern Dong Nai Province’s Long Thanh Industrial Zone.

Occupying a land area of 160,000 square meters, the facility will manufacture push-belts for continuously variable transmissions (CVT) for a variety of car models.

CVT technology enables automobile engines to run at more efficiency speed ranges, increasing fuel efficiency by up to 15 per cent and thus lowering carbon dioxide emission levels by up to 10 percent.

Bosch intends to invest up to US$ 79.6 million and employ 800 workers in the project, the world’s largest auto-parts maker said in a press release issued Thursday.

The assembly of push belts will start from July 2008 while the construction of the production facility at the actual site takes place. The building works for this production facility are expected to be completed by end of 2009. During its first year of operation, the plant will produce up to 100,000 push belts. This output is projected to increase to an annual 2.3 million units by 2015.

The push-belts have only been manufactured at one other Bosch location to date – Bosch-Van Doorne’s Transmissie in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Vietnam will now be the second CVT push-belt production location of the Bosch Group worldwide.

“As the manufacturing of these CVT push-belts involves high tech and specialized production, we are hiring local Vietnam talent and sending them to Tilburg, the Netherlands, for training,” said factory manager Reinhard Kink.

The factory, Bosch’s second CVT manufacturing facility outside Germany, is scheduled for completion by the end of October 2009.

It is expected to produce up to 380,000 units in the first year and increase output to 2.3 million units by 2015.

Bosch Group opened a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City in April after being granted a license to set up a subsidiary Robert Bosch Vietnam unit last year.

Vo Quang Hue, the subsidiary’s managing director, said the project will contribute to developing Vietnam’s automobile industry, which has been hampered by an under-developed parts manufacturing industry.

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Bosch to build auto parts factory in Dong Nai, Sep 5, 2008

www.bosche-press.de