Brose Opens Third Factory in Queretaro Mexico

Automotive parts supplier Brose North America has expanded its presence in Mexico with a fourth facility in the country and third in the nation’s historic and commercial Querétaro area. Headquartered in Michigan, the North American arm of the German family-owned automotive parts supplier has initiated the construction of a 602,000-square foot manufacturing facility with an investment of $170 million. The company is a global leader in the multidisciplinary field of applied mechatronics. Mechatronics draws from the principles of several engineering disciplines including mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, electronics, controls, engineering systems, and computer engineering. The new Querétaro plant is expected to produce easy access rear seats and lightweight core automotive rear seat structures.

Inaugural Remarks

The inaugural ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the new facility was attended by Thomas Spangler, the Chief Technology Officer of Brose Group, and Michael Brosseau, President of Brose North America. The government of Mexico was represented by the Governor of Querétaro, Francisco Domínguez Servién and Sustainable Development Secretary Marco del Prete Tercero. The dignitaries filled a ceremonial time capsule for the foundation of the new manufacturing facility. In his address, Spangler highlighted the close ties between the Querétaro region and the Brose Group for over two and a half decades. He detailed that the new manufacturing facility would enable the company to produce its full range of automotive products including seats, drivelines, and doors in Mexico, underlining the sustainability of the company’s strategy and investment in the country. Over 1,000 employees in Mexico currently produce power steering systems, cooling fans, regulator motors for windows, blowers for ventilation, cooling and heating, as well as drive actuators and other electronic drive train components.

New Production Facility

The new Brose Querétaro factory is expected to commence production runs in the summer of 2018 and generate 900 additional employment opportunities and include the full spectrum of manufacturing processes including welding, stamping, painting, and assembly of second row seat assemblies and third row structures for the first time in North America. The seat structures manufactured at Brose Querétaro are at the cutting edge of seating technology allowing the maximum possible accessibility to third-row seats with a highly optimized weight structure. Other products manufactured at the facility will include Brose’s innovative electronic folding mechanism for the second row and third-row seats in order to create larger cargo storage areas. The plant’s General Manager Miguel Castillero stated that the plant would play a key role in generating new jobs and broaden Brose’s involvement in the region.

Brose’s Growing Querétaro Infrastructure

Brose North America’s continued and sustained investment in Querétaro is a seminal part of the organization’s strategy to be recognized as a premier supplier of seat structures and components to OEM facilities in Mexico. The foundation of a local facility enables the cross-subsidization of logistics and manufacturing costs that can be passed on to its customers. The new facility in 2016 follows in the footsteps of the 400-employee Brose Querétaro-Benito Juarez facility that was inaugurated in 1993 to manufacture automotive regulators and window latches, with a second facility in El Marques being added in 2011.