Kapsch to close Chinese factory and move work back to Vienna

Kapsch is to close its Chinese factory and produce its railway radio modules in its Vienna plant, which will be expanded. Although it will be five per cent more expensive to produce the products in Austria than China, wages are increasing in China and if the yuan is revalued the Chinese factory will no longer be able to compete with Austria. In addition, producing the parts in Vienna will mean that the company is able to react to client demands faster; a container takes up to six weeks to get from China to
March 23, 2012 Read time: 1 min
81 Kapsch is to close its Chinese factory and produce its railway radio modules in its Vienna plant, which will be expanded. Although it will be five per cent more expensive to produce the products in Austria than China, wages are increasing in China and if the yuan is revalued the Chinese factory will no longer be able to compete with Austria. In addition, producing the parts in Vienna will mean that the company is able to react to client demands faster; a container takes up to six weeks to get from China to Austria.

The return is part of a wider trend; almost half of German companies which had moved production abroad have already brought it back, according to the Fraunhofer Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung.
Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • November 5, 2012
    China may miss electric vehicles goals
    A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance suggests that China may miss its ambitious goals concerning alternative energy and clean transportation. The country’s economy is growing quickly and along with this, citizens are finding it possible to afford vehicles of their own. The Chinese government is not inclined to allow reliance on fossil fuels to linger longer than necessary, however, and recently launched an ambitious plan that would promote the adoption of electric vehicles. In July 2012, the Chine
    Read More
  • August 1, 2012
    VW opens new vehicle plant in China
    Prof Dr Jochem Heizmann, member of the board of management of Volkswagen AG, who is to be responsible for the new ‘China’ board of management function, and Dr Michael Macht, board member responsible for Group production, have inaugurated a new plant for Shanghai Volkswagen (SVW) in Yizheng, Eastern China, together with Hu Maoyuan, chairman of SAIC Motor Corporation. The plant is designed for an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.
    Read More
  • March 12, 2012
    Telvent relocates and takes a global stance on ITS
    Telvent's Manuel Sanchez Ortega, on relocating the company's headquarters to the US and how that fits in the international scheme of things. The change-of-address cards are in the post; Manuel Sanchez Ortega has just moved homes. The domestic upheaval of Telvent's Chairman and Chief Executive comes as a result of the decision to relocate many of the company's headquarter functions from Madrid to Rockville, Maryland in the US. Viewed in the context of its significant recent acquisitions in North America - am
    Read More
  • December 4, 2013
    Alliance stages North American back office interoperability trial
    JJ Eden, President and CEO of the Alliance for Toll Interoperability, talks to Jason Barnes about the new inter-agency hub, which will facilitate national transactions When it comes to achieving interoperability, the sheer diversity of technologies in operation in the US is perhaps the tolling industry’s greatest defining characteristic and its biggest challenge. The situation is in stark contrast with some other regions of the world, such as Europe where the use of common front-end Dedicated Short-Range
    Read More

Highlighted Content