HBPO opens plant in Puebla to supply front-end modules for Audi’s Q5

13 December, 2016

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Germany-based HBPO, supplier of modular front-end systems, has opened a new facility in San Jose Chiapa, Mexico, to support assembly of Audi's Q5 luxury SUV, the company revealed in a press release.

The 89,000-square-foot HPBO facility currently produces Q5 front-end modules and center consoles with nearly 70 employees operating on two shifts. It is located in a JIS (just-in-sequence) supplier park on Audi's San Jose Chiapa assembly-plant property.

Anja Sprenger, president of HBPO North America, said the company plans to add a third shift at its plant during the first quarter of 2017, creating 50 additional jobs over the next four months.

Nearly 150 Audi, HBPO and HBPO supplier executives recently took part in official grand-opening ceremonies for the new plant. Participants included Martin Schueler, HBPO CEO; Jens Keller, HBPO CFO; Anja Sprenger, president HBPO North America; Russ Catron, plant manager – HBPO San Jose Chiapa, and Arturo Achard, Audi director of project purchasing, Mexico.

"The Audi Q5 is a luxury SUV known for its quality and high levels of performance," said Sprenger. "Audi expects its suppliers to provide nothing less than the highest-quality products possible and that's what HBPO plans to deliver from our new facility in San Jose Chiapa. The plant has been designed with the very latest, state-of-the-art equipment and processes."

The HBPO plant has the capacity to produce up to 160,000 complex front-end modules per year.

With just three hours of advance notice from Audi, HBPO is able to deliver just-in-sequence consoles and front-end modules for vehicles coming down an assembly line at Audi's San Jose Chiapa plant. The process involves the management of more than 300 individual components for more than 300 variations of the Q5's center console and more than 200 Q5 front-end modules.

HBPO Plant Manager Russ Catron noted that center consoles are a new HBPO product offering and thanked Audi management for its help and support in getting the company's newest plant in Mexico up and running in the most efficient and timely way possible.

HBPO's North American operations include headquarter offices in Troy, Michigan, and production facilities in Windsor, Canada, as well as in Puebla, San Jose Chiapa and Toluca, Mexico. Based in Lippstadt, Germany, HBPO globally produced more than 5.4 million front-end modules last year.

To learn more about HBPO check out their corporate video below:

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