ZF expands Shanghai HQ for Asia growth

ERJ staff report (TP)

Shanghai, China / Friedrichshafen, Germany – ZF Friedrichshafen AG is expanding its headquarters for China and Asia-Pacific in Shanghai with a €50 million investment.

The firm said the expansion is to extend R&D and “reinforce its market presence in the Far East”.

Space for offices, laboratories, and test benches will almost be quadrupled from 11,000 to 54,000 square metres.

Currently, 400 employees work on site, but with the new area, ZF said there will be room for 900 employees. Construction work started on 23 July along with the groundbreaking. The building will be completed at the end of 2015. In the next five years, ZF will invest approximately €50 million in this project.

In addition to offices for administration, the new building will primarily be home to laboratories and test benches.

CEO Dr. Stefan Sommer, who is also responsible for corporate research and development, said: “We will be able to test products of car driveline and chassis technology, as well as commercial vehicle or construction machinery transmissions.

“For the first time, engineers from all divisions of the Group are united under one roof.”

A test facility for the new 9-speed automatic transmission will also be installed in the new building; as of 2017, this new transmission will be produced in China as well.

In 2013, ZF generated sales of €3 billion in Asia-Pacific, with 7,500 employees at 37 locations in 14 countries, an increase in sales of 15% compared to 2012.

ZF has been active in the Chinese market since 1980 and has been producing on site since 1994.

In China, as part of the market region of Asia-Pacific, ZF generated sales of €2 billion in 2013, with 5,700 employees at 23 locations.

This year, ZF again expects “significant growth in China and in Asia-Pacific together with a further increase in staff”. The R&D Center in Shanghai established in 2005 is one of the technology company’s eight main development locations worldwide.