Kiekert, an automotive locking company in Wixom, is moving its manufacturing operations to a new 41,000-square-foot facility at 50695 Varsity Court in Wixom.
The company’s previous production facility on Liberty Drive in Wixom will continue to serve as its research and development center.
The relocation is part of a $3-million expansion designed to double the company’s production capacity in the United States. Production of latch modules at the new facility is expected to exceed 1 million units in 2018 compared to 350,000 five years ago.
The company will add 30 jobs at the new location. Kiekert’s Wixom facilities and its sister operations in Mexico are responsible for more than $220 million in annual revenue and account for a 25 percent share of the NAFTA market for automotive locking systems.
“We’ve made continuous investments in the expansion of our research, prototype, development, and manufacturing operations in the Detroit area since locating here in 1994,” says Mike Hietbrink, global sales director and general manager of Kiekert’s U.S. operations. “Our Wixom production plant specializes in supporting our customers locally with world-class locking systems. Our Wixom R&D facility is recognized by our customers as a leading technology center for designing and developing these products.”
Kiekert AG was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Heiligenhaus, Germany. The company has more than 6,500 employees in 11 countries.
