Skip to main content

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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Rio’s TMC rises to Olympic challenge
    October 27, 2016
    Timothy Compston lifts the lid on Rio de Janeiro’s preparations for keeping its transport systems moving during the Olympics – and the outcome. Hosting the Olympics poses major traffic management challenges for any city and Rio was no exception – especially as it is already one of the world’s most congested cities. Beyond its normal 6.5 million inhabitants wanting to carry on their daily lives, in August Rio was also home to 11,300 athletes from 206 countries. Athletes who, without fail, had to reach their
  • Why integrated traffic management needs a cohesive approach
    April 10, 2012
    Traffic control is increasingly being viewed as one essential element of a wider ‘system of systems’ – the smart city. Jason Barnes, Jon Masters and David Crawford report on latest ideas and efforts for making cities ‘smarter’ Virtually every element of the fabric and utilitarian operations that make urban areas tick can now be found somewhere in the mix that is the ‘smart city’ agenda. Ideas have expanded and projects pursued in different directions as the rhetoric on making cities ‘smarter’ has grown. App
  • More than half of UK’s new cars sold with autonomous safety tech
    April 4, 2016
    Self driving cars may seem years away, but more than 1.5 million UK motorists a year now leave showrooms in cars featuring self-activating safety systems, according to analysis revealed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

    Data from SMMT and JATO Dynamics shows that more than half of new cars registered in 2015 were fitted with safety-enhancing collision warning systems, with other technologies such as adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking and blind spot monitoring also surging in popularity.
  • HS2 ‘crucial to Britain’s future transport needs’
    October 30, 2013
    Britain cannot meet its future transport needs without HS2, according to new evidence published by the government. Even with over US$80 billion of planned transport investment over the next six years the country’s railways will be overwhelmed. The strategic case for HS2 sets out in detail the need for a new railway line to provide the vitally needed extra capacity. Central to the case is new data that reveals the true extent of the crisis facing the UK rail network and the impact alternatives to buildin