Turbocharged growth BorgWarner

TURBOCHARGED GROWTH

BorgWarner’s production complex in Oroszlány, Hungary is one of the BorgWarner Group’s foremost producers of turbo systems, also producing emission systems and torqtransfer (TTS) systems. Industry Europe looks at recent developments, including the opening of its brand new production facilities, latest products and continued focus on sustainability.

US-based BorgWarner Group is a global leader in highly engineered components and systems for powertrains with manufacturing and technical facilities in 58 locations in 19 countries throughout the world. The group’s stated mission is to deliver innovative powertrain solutions that improve fuel economy, emissions and performance, and ultimately help us all to live in a cleaner and more energy-efficient world.

The group has been present in Hungary since 2001 when its turbocharger factory was established. Initially it focused solely on the assembly of turbochargers to serve the Audi factory in Hungary, but it soon began to manufacture the products themselves as well. From the very beginning the company has seen strong growth, doubling its turnover year-on-year.

BorgWarner’s turnover growth for its Hungarian operations has been accompanied by regular capacity expansion, with enlargement of its facilities taking place in 2003, 2004 and again in 2007.

A further investment of €26 million in 2013 has meant that the turbo plant is today the second largest of BorgWarner’s global turbocharging technology manufacturing facilities.

Continuous investment

Today BorgWarner already has three constantly growing business units on its Oroszlány site. These are BorgWarner Turbo Systems, BorgWarner Emissions Systems and BorgWarner TTS. The first two are owned by the same legal entity, BorgWarner Oroszlány Kft, whilst BorgWarner TTS is a separate legal entity. Together, the Oroszlány complex employs more than 1400 people and covers an area of 35,000m2 .

BorgWarner Turbo Systems’ Oroszlány production profile includes BV turbochargers with variable turbine geometry, turbochargers with waste gate for diesel and gasoline as well, and turbochargers with twin scroll. The products from this business unit are used by personal car, light/medium/heavy truck and commercial vehicle manufacturers (although the Oroszlány plant itself mostly serves the PC market). It serves many globally renowned European automotive companies.

In July this year (2015) the new BorgWarner TTS production site was officially opened. The background of this business unit goes back to when BorgWarner acquired the Hungarian company Haldex’s AWD (All-Wheel Drive) division in 2010. This operation has now been moved in its entirety to the new plant in the Oroszlány complex. It produces hydraulic pumps for ‘preemptive’ AWD systems, complete transfer case units for Jaguar Land Rover and related spare parts for OEMS. This facility is one of the most modern of its kind today with a much larger floor space (covering 3300m2) than ever before in its history. It employs more than 150 people.

October 2015 saw the culmination of yet another major investment when the BorgWarner Emissions Systems plant (covering an area of 25,000m2) was opened at the Oroszlány complex. The opening ceremony for this facility was attended by a mixture of government officials, customers and BorgWarner representatives. The building of this plant was partially achieved through government subsidies, a part of which was used to further increase the Turbo Systems plant capacity.

BorgWarner Emission Systems manufactures advanced products including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) tubes, valves and coolers as well as thermostats – all key technologies for modern engines aimed at reducing emissions. In addition to this comprehensive range of products, the facility is also highly energy efficient: it uses waste heat from air compressors, recycles rainwater for lawn irrigation and benefits from reduced energy consumption owing to its use of LED lighting and solar power.

Latest coupling solution

One of the most significant new additions to BorgWarner’s range has been the latest Gen V coupling, which enables car manufacturers to build efficient, accurate and highly controllable AWD vehicles.

TTS opening: Dr Petra Pana, Vice State Secretary for Foreign Trade; Judit Czunyiné dr Bertalan, Educational State Secretary; Stefan Demmerle, President and GM, BorgWarner TTS; Zoltán Lazók, Mayor of Oroszlány.

The Gen V is an electric-hydraulic system that uses a patented Centrifugal Electro Hydraulic actuator system and a wet clutch pack to provide the very fast and accurate torque on demand AWD solution.

Gen V technology can be used for a large number of applications, including: advanced axle technology such as FXD for front wheel driven cars to transfer the torque between right and left on the same axle; and different AWD applications such as torque transfer from front to rear axle when mounted in the rear axle, or split torque between front and rear axles. The system can be used in many different kinds of vehicles, providing the optimal solution for passenger cars, sports cars as well as fully equipped off-road vehicles.

Growth prospects

A spokesperson for BorgWarner informs us that all three of its Hungarian business units offer excellent opportunities for development moving forward. Emissions and TTS are particularly exciting because these are being built up almost from zero and are already seeing rapid expansion (with up to 400 new employees expected on-board in the near future). Furthermore, the advanced and innovative turbocharging technologies being produced in the Turbo business unit allow for constant growth, as two-thirds of the output coming from BorgWarner’s factories is still made up of its globally renowned turbo systems. n