Schaeffler Group invests $60 million in its lead U.S. facility for the development and production of advanced electronic-mobility technology.
The Wooster, OH, facility also serves as the global center of competency for Schaeffler’s torque-converter product line.
The newly renovated Wooster campus provides Schaeffler with capacity to produce hybrid modules, the first of the company’s many electrification solutions and a critical part of its e-mobility strategy. Schaeffler’s hybrid module combines the electric motor with a hydrodynamic converter to yield a P2 hybrid solution comprising the motor, a standard transmission and two clutches.
Beginning in 2018, the Wooster facility will produce the module for a major U.S. automotive manufacturer. The team also is engaged in all-electric vehicle technology development, including the production of Schaeffler’s e-Axles.
Throughout the automotive supplier’s 40-year history in Ohio, Schaeffler has expanded the Wooster campus 20 times, growing from 27,000 sq.-ft. (2,510 sq.-m) to more than 800,000 sq.-ft. (74,400 sq.-m), the company says in a news release. What began as a team of six employees assembling manual clutches has grown into nearly 2,000 highly skilled employees. It is the largest employer in the city of 27,000.
“From 2007 to 2016, our automotive business has outpaced market growth by nearly double and we have expanded our manufacturing capacity in Wooster to keep pace with growth in our automotive transmission business,ˮ Marc McGrath, president-Automotive Americas, says at a ceremony marking Schaefflerʼs 40th year in Ohio and the facility’s latest expansion.
