Autoliv Begins Seat Belt Production In Poland - Brief Article

Autoparts Report, Jan 17, 2003

Autoliv said it has opened a plant in Poland to produce seat belts. "The new plant meets our need for additional production capacity as well as our aim of reducing costs by moving labor-intensive production to low-labor-cost countries," said Lars Westerberg, Autoliv's President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Over the past three years, we have moved more than 5,000 jobs to those countries," he added. "As a result, we currently have close to 30 percent of our employees in low-labor-cost countries, compared to less than 10 percent in 1999. At the same time, we have grown also in high-cost countries by investing in new sophisticated, high-value-added safety systems."

The new plant will add almost 5 percent to Autoliv's European seat belt capacity, the company said. The number of employees will be doubled from the current level of nearly 200 people.

The plant will produce seat belts as a sub-contractor to Autoliv Germany, delivering mainly to BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Opel and Volkswagen.