ZF opens new £70m UK technical centre
ZF Friedrichshafen AG has officially opened its new £70m purpose built technical and office facility at Blythe Valley Business Park Solihull.
This new 220,000 sq ft, state-of-the art technical centre houses the current 700 staff with room for growth, and is located in the heart of the UK’s automotive industry and central to all of the UK Test Bed facilities.
The site features the latest technology and infrastructure for developing advanced solutions for an autonomous, electric and connected mobility future.
ZF says the facility design and architecture underpins the groups sustainability strategy for across-the-board carbon neutrality by 2040.
According to ZF, this new facility is a multi-disciplinary, multi-divisional location, collaborating on the development of key technologies and system solutions for active and passive safety systems: autonomous driving, cyber-security, electronics, braking and steering systems as well as electrified powertrain solutions and race engineering.
The location is also designated as ZF’s global Centre of Competency for Servo-Motors design. In these future-oriented areas, ZF is increasing the number of R&D specialists at the Shirley location.
These technologies are all contributing to solutions which utilise high levels of autonomous driving and electromobility.
ZF adds that the new site also enables greater customer collaboration – from project support to launch support.