ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks GmbH, Duisburg, and Volvo Cars, Göteborg / Sweden, are stepping up their cooperation with a new service center located on the site of the Volvo plant in Olofström/Sweden. ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks Sverige AB, a newly formed subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks GmbH, will soon supply the Swedish auto manufacturer directly from the new service center.

Under the contract, ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks Sverige will set up a service center in Olofström that will produce around 80,000 tonnes of tailored blanks and cut-to-size sheets a year for Volvo Cars. The products will be further processed in the stamping plant operated by Volvo at the same site.

ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks Sverige will invest more than 21 million euros in the service center, which will include two fully automatic laser welding lines for tailored blanks as well as an oscillating shear for blanking. Production is scheduled to start in late 2005 and the center will reach its full capacity in late 2006, when it will employ around 50 people.

Volvo Cars, which employs roughly 2,500 people in the southern Swedish city, has been a customer of ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks for six years. In that time, deliveries have increased rapidly. That fact along with Volvo’s wish for local service were key reasons for the decision to locate a production site in Olofström. The move will further increase the international presence of ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks GmbH, which is currently represented in Italy, Mexico and China as well as Germany.

ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks GmbH is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG. ThyssenKrupp Stahl is a pioneer in the development of tailored blanks. Together with its subsidiary the company is world market leader for the product. Made from steel sheets of different gauges, grades and coatings, tailored blanks permit weight savings of 20 to 40% in car manufacture.