Brose opens just-in-sequence factory in China's capital

Internationally operating automotive supplier Brose has officially opened its seventh Chinese production facility in the presence of some 100 political and business guests. In addition to Shanghai, this is the second Asian plant of the mechatronic specialist to produce door systems just in sequence.

The family-owned company currently employs more than 20,000 people worldwide, 3,500 of which work in China.

Brose already began producing door systems in the 14,000 sqm production plant in the Daxing district of south Beijing last spring – for the C and E-Class and GLK models of Beijing Benz Automotive Co. Ltd. (BBAC).

With the JIS inventory method, the supplier not only ensures that the exact quantity of componentsand systems required by the customer are available exactly on schedule: the parts also have to arrive in exactly the right sequence. Production and shipment are carried out in pace with the customer’s vehicle production.

At the Beijing plant, this means that after receiving an order for a door system, Brose has around 300 minutes in which to assemble, fully inspect and ship a ready-to-install sub-assembly. The door systems are delivered directly to the final assembly line of the BBAC factory some eight kilometers away.

“Given this firmly defined time window, redundant communications and supply systems as well as robust plant technology are in place to guarantee supplies to the customer,” explains Harley Yu, general manager of the new plant, adding: “In Europe, we have been producing our door systems in sequence with our customers since 1999. We launched JIS production of door systems at our Shanghai plant in May 2000, the first suppliers to do so in China. From that plant, we supply our customer SVW”. Today, the Brose Group operates 13 JIS production plants worldwide.

Yu underscores: “The Brose Productivity System has already earned several awards for our German JIS plants. We are now developing this standardized production concept that guarantees high quality standards worldwide in China too.”

Besides producing door systems, the Beijing factory will also begin producing window regulators for BAIC before the end of the year. Further projects for various local and international customers will be starting in 2013.

The workforce at the Beijing location is poised to rise from the current 80 to 110 by the end of the year; by 2015, it is anticipated that some 260 employees will be generating sales of around 750 million RMB.