Automotive & Heavy Vehicles
Taking fluid dynamics further The Tristone Flowtech Group is a fluid components supplier that specialises in providing tailor-made, flow-technology solutions for passenger vehicles. With the seismic shift in the automotive industry towards electric cars, the company is now ideally placed to take full advantage of the current market situation thanks to its advanced battery cooling and turbocharging technologies. Philip Yorke reports.
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he Tristone Flowtech Group is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany and in 2018 recorded revenues of almost 300 million euros. It currently employs around 3,500 people. The Group is one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers of fluid applications in the area of engine cooling and battery cooling, as well as providing high-technology products for the cooling of turbochargers. It operates modern manufacturing and research locations in Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, USA, India and China. The Tristone Group was established in 2010, based on a spin-off from the former Fluid Automotive Business Unit of Trelleborg AB and today is a leading Tier 1 supplier to global automotive customers, such as Renault Dacia, Nissan, Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Vauxhall. In addition, the group also supplies Fiat, Chrysler, Ford, Volvo, General Motors, the VW Group with Audi, Seat, Skoda, Porsche, Bentley and Bugatti, the BMW Group with Mini, Rolls-Royce, and Daimler with Mercedes, Smart, Jaguar-Landrover, Suzuki, Mahindra-Mahindra, Hyundai Kia, and Bosch, as well as many other Tier I suppliers. In February 2017, the Tristone Group was purchased by the Chinese Zhongding Group, Ningguo and is continuing to be managed under the same name and corporate structure.
Major investment in Poland Recently the Tristone Flowtech Group held its opening ceremony for the expansion of the company’s plastic production plant and engineering lab in Walbrzych, in the District of Lower Silecia, in Poland and also celebrated the groundbreaking of a further plant expansion to double production capabilities. Present at the opening ceremony were representatives of the District of Lower Silesia, the city of Walbrzych, the Walbrzych special economic zone and many representatives of Tristone’s global automotive customers. In April 2018, Tristone Poland started construction work to expand its plastic production (Hall B) as well as its central engi-
neering laboratory which is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2019. ‘The Group spent a further 3 million euros on investments in an expanded plastic production facility as well as in additional state-of the-art machinery and equipment. “We could soon reach a significant breakthrough in the market, especially for engine and battery cooling applications” said Guenter Froelich, President & CEO, Tristone Group. Industry Europe 87
