Governor Eric J. Holcomb and Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell will join executives from BeijingWest Industries, Co. Ltd. (BWI) on Wednesday, June 28 at 2:30 p.m. to break ground on the company’s new manufacturing facility in Greenfield – the China-based company’s first manufacturing site in the U.S.
In April, the company, which is a premier chassis supplier that designs and manufactures brake and suspension systems for the global automotive market, announced plans to invest more than $80 million to build and equip a new 274,369-square-foot manufacturing facility in Greenfield’s Progress Park. The company, which serves more than 31 customers around the world and provides the highly-acclaimed MagneRide® suspension system, generated $2 billion of new business. With its growth, BWI plans to begin operations in August 2019 and expects to increase its production by 4 million parts per year to meet the continued demands from its customers, which include Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, General Motors, Honda and Porsche.
BWI, a joint venture of Shougang Corporation and Beijing Fangshan State-Owned Asset Management, was formed in 2009 when the company bought the brake and suspension business of Delphi Automotive, which was once a part of General Motors. The company employs nearly 5,000 associates across more than 17 facilities around the world, which includes operations in China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Poland, United Kingdom and the U.S.
Indiana is home to approximately 800 foreign-owned business establishments, which provide 170,800 quality jobs for Hoosiers. With more the than 1 million cars assembled in Indiana each year, the Hoosier state is home to the second-largest automotive industry in the nation by GDP, providing BWI close proximity to a leading automobile industry.
