Altensteig, 17th February 2011 - Friedrich Boysen GmbH & Co. KG reorganises production in the Altensteig area. As part of the reorganisation, the Turmfeld production site will be expanded and the component plant in Walddorf closed. The structural reform will maintain a stable number of industrial jobs at the company's headquarters. "The aim of the reorganisation is to guarantee the continued profitability of our production network at the Altensteig site and thus to ensure that our production jobs are protected in the long term", said Boysen CEO Rolf Geisel.
The company will be concentrating production of exhaust systems and components for commercial vehicles and off-highway applications in the new Turmfeld III plant. The new construction project includes a production building with a central high bay warehouse as well as a combined incoming and outgoing goods area and generous facilities for employees. The floor space is 20,000 square metres and the rebuilt space has a volume of 200,000 cubic metres. According to Rolf Geisel, the Turmfeld III plant will be the group's first climate controlled production facility. A comprehensive energy concept - a mixture of heat pumps, geothermal energy, photovoltaics and solar collectors - optimises the complex's energy balance and provides a perfect environment for employees.
Rolf Geisel put the investment volume for the project at 40 million Euro in 2011 alone. At the end of January, Geisel marked the official start of construction work with a ceremonial ground breaking ceremony. The new plant is due to start production at the beginning of 2012. After completion, Boysen will employ around 530 people at the Turmfeld site.
With a total of around 900 employees at three sites in Altensteig and BAK Boysen Abgaskomponenten GmbH in Simmersfeld, the Boysen Group is the region's biggest industrial employer. In total, according to CEO Rolf Geisel Boysen will invest a total of 65 million Euro this year in expanding and modernising its sites in the region.
"Our future growth in turnover will largely come from international markets, namely China and the USA", said Geisel. "But in 2011 our domestic production is likely to account for around half of our expected 130 million Euro increase in turnover to 900 million." Work on the expansion of production capacity at the Boysen plants in Shenyang (China) and Gaffney (US state of South Carolina) is now almost complete. Expansion and modernisation of the local assembly plant at Salching in Lower Bavaria will last until the beginning of April. Boysen MVO assembles complete exhaust systems just-in-sequence for the BMW plants in Dingolfing and Regensburg.
Geisel reiterated his view that Boysen's international activities in the current structure contribute to maintaining domestic jobs. But if German premium car manufacturers continue to expand their production capacities in growth markets such as the USA and China as planned, this development will necessarily be at the expense of domestic production plants in the coming years. As a result, it is important and correct to invest now in other areas such as exhaust technology for commercial vehicles and off-highway applications. "At Boysen, securing the future of the company is always the top priority", says Geisel, "and we will continue to do everything in our power to protect our jobs in Germany."
The origins of Boysen production in Turmfeld go back to the early 1970s. In 1971/72 the automotive supplier built what, at the time, was a state of the art plant in the Altensteig industrial area. A second plant was added in 1987/88 (Turmfeld II). The operation remains Boysen's main plant today. When the current structural reform is complete, Turmfeld will once again be the company's largest production site by some distance, a position that the plant has enjoyed over several decades in the past.
In case of any queries, please contact:
Martin Stuka
Press and Public Relations
Friedrich Boysen GmbH & Co. KG
Friedrich-Boysen-Straße 14-17
72213 Altensteig
Tel. 07453/20-274
Fax 07453/20-4274
E-mail martin.stuka(at)boysen-online.de
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