Clear vision Hella Slovakia Front Lighting

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Hella Slovakia Front Lighting is one of the two Slovak subsidiaries of the German HELLA Group, the leading European manufacturer of innovative products and modular systems in the field of lighting technology and electronics for the automotive sector. The Slovak factory makes headlamps for passenger cars and trucks mainly for the European market and its customer base includes all major automotive brands. Romana Moares reports.

The HELLA Group develops and produces components and systems for lighting technology and electronics for car manufacturers and other vendors, focusing on the central trends in the automotive industry – environmental protection, safety and comfort. This is reflected in products such as intelligent battery sensors, radar driver assistance systems as well as adaptive lighting systems.

The Group is the technology leader responsible for introducing many innovative products, such as the first LED headlamps and the first non-glare xenon headlamps. It is the world leader in the development of 24 GHz radar sensors that are used in walkway assistants and other functions.

15 years of continued growth

HELLA Slovakia Front-Lighting, located in Kočovce near Nové Mesto nad Váhom (western Slovakia), was built as a green field development. The brand new facility started production in 2003, its core business

being the production of headlamps for passenger cars and trucks for mainly European car makers.

The first years of the new factory were marked by a close cooperation with the Mohelnice sister company in the Czech Republic and cooperation on joint projects. However, less than five years on, the assembly plant developed into a fully fledged production facility, initially supplying its products primarily to truck makers (Scania, Renault, Daimler). The customer base soon expanded to include passenger car makers, including Peugeot and Citroën. The parent company’s trust and confidence in the Slovak plant was demonstrated by transferring production of front head lamps for the Mercedes A Class from Germany in the summer of 2011, to be followed by other contracts for Mercedes.

Since then, the company has been steadily growing and now holds, together with its Czech sister company, a leading position within the Group. Annual output is around 2.5 million head lamps. Over half of the output is fitted in Mercedes passenger cars and trucks; other customers include Kia and Hyundai, Volvo, Peugeot, Volkswagen, Scania, Nissan as well as Škoda. Only 10–20 per cent of total production output remains in Slovakia, the rest is exported. The key export market is Germany, accounting for over 50 per cent of the company’s sales, but HELLA Slovakia Front Lighting is also successful in Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic, Belgium as well as in the United States and Brazil.

Project 2020

In terms of the product portfolio, the LED lights will play an increasingly significant part – not only because they are environmentally friendly, but also because their ‘daylight effect’ increases the driver’s comfort. At the same time, the LEDs offer a wide range of design options and

help automobile manufacturers to create a unique style for their brands. Further developments in the field of adaptive lighting will certainly be reflected in LEDs in the future. Hella has already indicated a range of options when introducing the first AFS (adaptive front lighting system) headlamps. Another trend in the development of LED headlights is the shift towards optimised power consumption, the so-called EcoLED systems, providing an added advantage of optimum cost.

Although LEDs are currently being used mainly to illuminate large areas, they will also serve the opposite function in the future, i.e. targeted spotlights, allowing specific lighting of certain types of objects, such as children at the edge of the road. As a result, drivers will notice potential risks much sooner and will be able to react more quickly to them.

In line with the current market development, the company plans to further expand with its Project 2020. This will include an increase of total output up to 3.6 million units per annum.

In Europe, the HELLA Group is the Number One in its sector and the Slovak factory heavily contributes to this status. The plan is to reinforce its position in the American and Asian markets, and make the best use of new, emerging opportunities. Given the company’s dynamic development, Hella Slovakia Front-Lighting has proven that it can certainly meet the challenge. n