VDL Groep breaks through in United States
VDL Groep is going to break through in the United States. The orders won by the international industrial family business headquartered in Eindhoven in the American automotive industry during 2016 will be carried out in 2017.
In January 2017 VDL Groep will begin delivering the automated production lines for new plants being built by BMW, Volvo Cars and other new customers in the United States that may not be mentioned by name. VDL Groep's production automation company VDL Steelweld, headquartered in Breda (NL), will supply these car manufacturers with production automation that includes over 800 robots. The work to be performed by VDL Steelweld in the US in 2017 has a value of over 100 million euros.
Locations
BMW and Volvo are building new car plants in South Carolina. To get a foot in the door and establish firm footing with these automotive manufacturers in the US, suppliers must also be established in the US themselves. To this end VDL Steelweld opened three locations in the US in 2016: in Fremont, California; Detroit, Michigan and Spartanburg, South Carolina. VDL Steelweld expects to grow rapidly in the US.
“VDL Steelweld has been the main supplier for companies including Ford, Volvo, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover in Europe for years,” says Managing Director Peter de Vos of VDL Steelweld. “That has earned us the manufacturers’ confidence to partner with us as supplier for their factories in the US. And that experience, in turn, has put us in a position to now begin working for American customers in the United States.”
Trade mission
Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp and HRH Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands are conducting a trade mission to the west coast of the United States to Tuesday 10 January inclusive. The aim of the visit is to improve the position of Dutch companies and help them establish relationships with partners, investors and research institutions while also strengthening collaboration with American companies. During this – the cabinet's 97th – trade mission, accompanying representatives from more than 100 Dutch companies will explore opportunities to work more closely with American partners in fields such as electric mobility. A delegation from the trade mission will pay a visit to the VDL office in Fremont, California.