Stadco, a supplier of body-in-white (BIW) services and facilities to the automotive industry, has been awarded a supply agreement with Ford that will see the company establish the first dedicated BIW stampings and assembly facility in Russia to supply major international OEMs.
Planning work for the construction of the new facility near St Petersburg is already underway and the supply of production stampings and assemblies to Ford, for their Focus model, is expected to start in early 2009. The facility will initially employ up to 200 people. Stadco expects that this plant will be attractive to other OEMs and that additional business will be won before 2009.
With the Russian market growing strongly, a number of OEMs are establishing manufacturing facilities in the country, mainly in the St Petersburg region, and the major international Tier 1 suppliers are now following these customers. This award means that Stadco is the first international BIW supplier to set up in Russia and is well placed to win further work from other incoming OEMs.
Other major OEMs, including Toyota, GM and Nissan, are in the process of establishing vehicle production in the St Petersburg area. By 2008, Stadco anticipates that annual vehicle production by international OEMs in Russia will increase to over 300,000 units.
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