In the summer of this year, at the official opening of the GROB plant in Dalian, China, we reported in a special issue of GROB International on the key milestones for the GROB Group in the Asian market. Before the year ends, our colleagues in Dalian, will have reached yet another important stage in the Asian success story with the delivery of the first "made in China" machine. The young Chinese team has, within a very short time, proved that all the hard work that went into training has paid off and that they can produce machines of the usual GROB quality.
Cylinder head production line for BBAC
The important date was 26 November: the first two G300 machines, part of a larger order for Beijing Benz Automotiv Co., Ltd. (BBAC), were delivered to the customer. This cylinder head project for 1.6 and 2.0 liter engines includes 39 single-spindle G-modules, 13 units in the 300 series and 26 units in the 500 series, plus interlinking, automation and auxiliary equipment. The main part of the contract went to GROB Mindelheim, but GROB Dalian will supply ten G300 units and nine G500 units. "We are particularly proud of the fact," said Dalian plant manager Eugen Nägele, "that within six months we were able to bed in our staff and processes, so that delivery of the machines from Dalian could go ahead in a very short time."
Production and assembly in Dalian began in early April and by the end of September, the preliminary inspection had been carried out at the Dalian plant for customers, who were extremely satisfied. So 24 and 25 September 2012, when the machines were finally signed off, are important dates in the short history of the GROB Dalian plant.
GROB's successful, global production network
Not least with this order, GROB's Dalian plant has convincingly proved that it can blend seamlessly into our existing production network. Managed from company headquarters in Mindelheim, our regional customers in the Asian region, particularly in China, can now be supplied straight from our Dalian plant. And not just that. This first delivery demonstrates the high level of competitiveness of the entire GROB Group in worldwide markets. Commenting on the huge level of investment in recent years, but particularly in China, the company's chief representative, Christian Grob, was very satisfied: "With our four production plants, we are now perfectly positioned globally to meet the demands of our customers. GROB is now closer to its customers, whether in the Peoples' Republic of China, North America, including Mexico, or, of course, in Europe."
It's a philosophy that has proved successful in the almost 90-year history of the company, notably with the establishment in 1956 of GROB's first plant on foreign soil in Sao Paulo in Brazil.
