Faurecia opens new Shanghai Technical Center

Faurecia has opened a new technical center in Shanghai, China, which will also serve as its Chinese headquarters.

The automotive equipment supplier wants to reinforce its research and development capabilities and engineering localization in the world's largest automotive market.

The new 18,000 square meter Faurecia China Tech Center is made up of the Training Center and the Tech Center, which includes an industrial design facility, two showrooms and various prototype workshops alongside five labs for testing, acoustics, airbag, complete seat and quality inspection.

Activities carried out at the facility include: design and development for local projects; global program development lead; tooling and product validation; product and process knowledge transfer with plant support for new technologies; Asia region technical support; and advanced development and innovation including the EastWorks seating think tank.

It will also serve as the research and development hub for three of Faurecia's four main business divisions – Automotive Seating, Interior Systems, and Automotive Exteriors – while the total number of project technicians and engineers will be increased from 500 to 800.

By Rufus Thompson