July 2013
| Business World Magazine | 13
No Break in Electronic
Brake Production
The world leading automotive supplier of Conti-
nental has announced plans to investmore than$35
million in its Henderson, North Carolina-based
facility and create as many as 40 new jobs, report-
edly due to increased demand for their Electronic
Integrated Parking Brake production. "With this
investment, we will be able to increase our current
volume to support a growing market, improve our
manufacturing processes and prepare for additional
production demand in the future,"
says JeffScott, plantmanager of the
Henderson facility. This 250,000
square-foot manufacturing facil-
ity currently employs more than
600 local residents and produces
state-of-the-art brake calipers for
automobiles and light trucks. In
recent years, the facility has expe-
rienced unprecedented growth in
both business production and em-
ployments. Last year, it produced
a record-breaking seven million
calipers, but that production rate
is estimated to jump to nearly nine
million this year. Contributing to
this significant growth in produc-
tion is the addition of five new
vehicle platform customers that
Continental now supports.
In addition to these programs, the Henderson
plant is working in conjunction with Continental's
Rheinbollen, Germany, facility to simultaneously
launch a new electro-mechanical caliper with inte-
grated parking brake (e-IPB). "The e-IPB Caliper
will introduce new challenges to our Henderson
team," says Scott. "The assembly process relies heav-
ily on robotics, integrated work cells, and high-
tech programming. This is a great opportunity to
improve our manufacturing processes and demon-
strate the technical competence and adaptability
of our employees." The $35 million investment will
include the construction of approximately 88,000
additional square feet of production and ware-
house space, as well as the acquisition and installa-
tion of new production equipment.
The Henderson plant is part of Continental's
Hydraulic Brake Systems Business Unit in the
NAFTA region and has become a strong contribu-
tor in the company's strategy to further develop
Foundation and Electronic IPB product segments
in the region. With sales of €32.7 billion in 2012,
Continental is among the world’s leading automo-
tive suppliers of brake systems, systems and compo-
nents for powertrains and chassis, instrumentation,
infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tires,
technical elastomers and networked automobile
communication systems. Continental currently
has approximately 173,000 employees interspersed
among 46 countries.
