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

  • Debating the future of in-vehicle systems
    December 6, 2012
    Industry experts talk to Jason Barnes about the legislative situation of current and future in-vehicle systems. Articles about technology development can have a tendency to reference Moore’s Law with almost indecent regularity and haste but the fact remains that despite predictions of slow-down or plateauing, the pace remains unrelenting. That juxtaposes with a common tendency within the ITS industry: to concentrate on the technology and assume that much else – legislation, business cases and so on – will m
    Read More
  • Insight into China's smart cities initiatives
    April 25, 2013
    Schneider Electric, which has been playing an active role in smart transportation systems in China since 1990, provides an insight into smart city initiatives in the country. Today, most cities across the world are facing unprecedented growth, which questions the viability of the current development model. They are immersed in a competition with each other, both domestically and internationally, in terms of investments, jobs and talents. Cities need to become more attractive and intelligent by becoming more
    Read More
  • Agencies in pursuit of high-speed WIM accuracy
    April 20, 2017
    Alan Dron looks at where WIM is heading in the near future. As Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) systems grow in sophistication and accuracy, they are increasingly being used in more active roles to help ensure road safety through enforcement action against overweight vehicles.
    Read More
  • Doris Bures outlines Austrias influence on ITS
    October 22, 2012
    Austria has built a strong ITS industry and become an important location in the sector. Doris Bures, Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology talks about what the country has to offer the global ITS community
    Read More

Highlighted Content