HELLA doubles production capacity at its site in Shanghai

Lippstadt/Shanghai, 22 October 2021. In view of the further increase in demand for electronics solutions, the internationally positioned automotive supplier HELLA has doubled the production capacity at its Shanghai location. In this context, a new building was added to the electronics plant located there and the existing space was fundamentally remodeled. With a total building area of around 50,000 square meters, this is now the largest electronics plant in the global HELLA network. The investment volume of the overall measures is in the high double-digit million euro range. HELLA currently employs around 1,600 people at its Shanghai site, which is also home to a research and development centre. Within the next three years, the workforce there is to be increased to up to 2,200 employees.

"China is one of the most important automotive markets. Almost every third vehicle produced worldwide rolls off the production line in China. At the same time, the Chinese market is one of the most important drivers of industry change," says Björn Twiehaus, who is responsible for the global electronics business on the HELLA Management Board. "We therefore anticipate a further increase in demand for sophisticated electronics solutions, for example for electromobility or automated driving. With the significantly expanded production capacities of our Chinese lead plant in Shanghai, we are primarily serving customer orders that have already been booked and are creating optimal conditions to meet the further increasing demand in the market."

The production spectrum of the HELLA electronics plant in Shanghai covers the company's entire product range. Currently, a total of more than 40 million electronic components are manufactured there each year. Series production of 77 GHz sensors for a Chinese car manufacturer is expected to start in the new building at the end of November; in a next step, the production of voltage converters and components for steering electronics is to be started on highly automated production lines. Local customers as well as the international automotive market are supplied from Shanghai.

The commissioning of the new production facility coincides with the 25th anniversary of the site. "For a quarter of a century now, our site in Shanghai has stood for sophisticated automotive electronics and excellent quality," says Björn Twiehaus on the occasion of the anniversary celebration. "This success has only been possible thanks to a highly motivated and committed team. I am all the more pleased that with the capacity expansion we can now open the next chapter of this unique success story."