Delphi Continues Diversification of Business Providing Specialty Thermal Solutions for Agricultural Vehicle OEMs
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HANOVER, Germany, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Manufacturers of today's agricultural vehicles continue to improve safety and enhance operating conditions for operators of their equipment, and Delphi Automotive Systems (NYSE: DPH - news) is playing a key role in advanced thermal comfort solutions for this specialized market.
(Photo: newscom.com )
Delphi's Molinella, Italy site is a leader in the development of complete HVAC systems for a wide range of agricultural machinery, including tractors, combines, telehandlers, and manufacturers of vehicle cabs. That capability is on exhibit this week in Hanover, Germany, site of Agritechnica 2001, Europe's largest agricultural machinery exhibition.
Delphi's presence in this market continues to grow as air conditioning -- much like passenger cars in Europe -- is being increasingly viewed as a necessity in the commercial vehicle market.
``Original equipment manufacturers are answering the call by operators for expanded comfort features by equipping their vehicles with conveniences found in many passenger cars today,'' said Roberto Grotti, chief engineer at Delphi Molinella. ``Many are doing that by turning to our special application operations, where we draw on more than 30 years of experience in providing answers to customers over a broad spectrum of markets.''
Delphi's Molinella facility has been providing mobile air conditioning technology since 1970, and has emerged as a leader in large- and niche-market applications, as well as serving as Europe's top air conditioning aftermarket supplier. Its special applications unit, formed in 1997, is focused primarily on agricultural vehicles and industrial earth-moving machinery, in addition to truck applications, sports cars and niche application vehicles (such as microcars).
``There's a vast amount of potential in commercial vehicles,'' Grotti said, adding that approximately 32 percent of the special application unit's sales today fall into the agriculture market. ``We could see air conditioning penetration approaching 60 percent by the end of this year.''
Some of Delphi Molinella's customers in this market include:
Renault Agriculture -- Delphi recently won its first direct business with Renault Agriculture, an important step in diversifying its commercial vehicle portfolio. Beginning in early 2003, Delphi will assemble heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) modules and heater-only units for two separate lines of Renault farm tractors, ranging from 52 to 250 horsepower. These tractors will be manufactured at Renault's assembly operation in Le Mans, the most prolific of its three manufacturing facilities in France committed to producing farm tractors.
Landini -- Delphi will continue to provide climate control systems to the 116-year-old company, which earlier this year incorporated the McCormix brand with its operations located in Doncaster, England. With this acquisition, Landini is the world's fifth-largest manufacturer in this market. In all, Delphi Molinella will produce more than 5,000 A/C and heating systems for the Landini plant in San Martino in Rio and Fabbrico (Reggio Emilia) in 2002.
Laverda -- Part of the Landini Group, Laverda is a leading manufacturer of harvester combines. Delphi recently began supplying Laverda with HVAC modules in conjunction with a product line cabin redesign. The Molinella site will supply the complete A/C system for Laverda, which includes air conditioning as a standard cabin feature on all its combines.
John Deere -- Key HVAC components are being provided by Delphi to support John Deere's production of telehandlers, with the Molinella site beginning its support in November. Similar technology will be featured on a future John Deere program in 2002.
Delphi also supplies HVAC systems for tractors assembled by Agritalia and Zetor, the latter a major manufacturer in Eastern Europe. The company's other customers include a number of cabin manufacturers, who seek to provide optimum comfort capability and high value for their OEM customers. Cabin builders such as Brieda, Lochmann, Denizet and Siac, among others, continue to integrate Molinella's technology into their products, as do Komatsu, Case New Holland, Manitou Italy, and Merlo in construction vehicles.
In addition to these markets, Delphi Molinella operation serves a number of other customers such as Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Sevel, Casalini in the sports car and niche-vehicle segment. It is also Europe's leader in supplying automotive air conditioning aftermarket kits. |
