Johnson Controls opens new seat plant in Craiova

American manufacturer Johnson Controls opened, yesterday, a new production facility in Craiova, in the premises of the Ford plant. The just-in-time (JIT) plant, spanning on 11,000 square meters, will supply seat systems for the new B-MAX minivan that will be rolled out later this year by Ford.

“We are pleased to support our customer Ford Motor Company in Craiova, bring growth to the region and become a member of the local community,”, said Jeff Williams, group vice president and general manager, customer group Americas for Johnson Controls Automotive Experience. “Romania is an important part of the growing Eastern European automotive market as industry projections expect the country’s automotive market to grow by approximately 80 percent over the next four years.”

“This plant will assemble customized seats for up to 1,300 cars every day, and the yearly capacity can reach 300,000 cars,” said Alexandru Oprescu, plant manager Craiova.  

At present, 100 people are working in the Craiova plant, but Johnson Controls will hire another 60 in the next period. The company has a seat assembly plant and five seating component plants in the country. Additionally, Johnson Controls recently acquired the automotive business of Romanian company Spumotim, which included two polyurethane foam plants in Timisoara and Poiana Lacului.

Already, Johnson Controls is providing car seats for Dacia from its plant in Mioveni, Arges County. The company has 9 plants in Romania, employing 4,500 people.

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The automotive division of Johnson Controls reported net sales of USD 20.1 billion in 2011, with Europe/Africa accounting for half of the results.

Johnson Controls is the largest developer of car batteries, owning the Varta brand, but the company is also involved in the building sector, where it provides building efficiency solutions for the non-residential segment.

Ovidiu Posirca