Tenneco has opened a new engineering centre that it says will serve the company’s European Ride Control and Advanced Suspension Technologies (AST) businesses.
The new Monroe European Engineering Centre is located approximately two kilometres from Tenneco’s manufacturing complex, in Gliwice, Poland.
The Monroe European Engineering Centre houses nearly 240 Tenneco Ride Control and AST product engineers whose work supports an array of global vehicle manufacturers as well as the company’s Performance Solutions plants in Spain, Czech Republic, Belgium and Poland.
Among the principal products designed and validated in the new centre are Monroe OE Solutions passive dampers and modules and Monroe Intelligent Suspension semi-active suspension dampers and modules. Tenneco says these technologies are featured in millions of late-model passenger vehicles, commercial trucks, buses, trailers and other applications.
The facility is also responsible for the design of a broad range of core components – including valve systems, guidance and sealing systems and structural parts and materials – featured in Monroe OE Solutions and Monroe Intelligent Suspension dampers. In addition, the new centre oversees European “ride work” activities, through which Tenneco engineers collaborate with vehicle manufacturers to test and finalize damper valving prior to the launch of each new vehicle model.
“This impressive new facility enables our Ride Control and Advanced Suspension Technologies teams to increase the velocity and value of our technology introduction on behalf of global OEMs,” said Romain Nollet, Group Vice President and General Manager Ride Control. “We continue to invest in the best people, facilities, resources and systems to help each of our customers achieve their business goals, with every platform and every vehicle model.”
In conjunction with the building project, Tenneco says it invested in the latest computer-aided design (CAD) and engineering (CAE) technologies and other solutions required for the development of mechanical, electronic and hydraulic systems. The facility’s 5.330-square-meter shop is equipped to quickly produce and test protypes of all types of passive and semi-active dampers. Onsite product validation capabilities include strength, durability, corrosion, performance and noise tests as well as computerized simulations of component and product performance.
With the opening of the Monroe European Engineering Center, Tenneco now serves Ride Control and AST customers through a network of five advanced technology facilities, in Gliwice; Monroe, Mich., USA; Ermua, Spain; Sint-Truiden, Belgium; and Beijing, China.
