Yet to make cars, Bangladesh is set to enter the global automotive industry by hosting a Draxlmaier lab for designing interior facilities for top brands like BMW, Mercedes and Cadillac.
World’s leading suppliers to auto industry, Dräxlmaier Group decided to set up it’s a state of the art design lab in Dhaka, the company’s first in South Asia and 4th in Asia, after Thailand, Malaysia and China.
A five-member Dräxlmaier team led by the head of its design facilities in Asia, Grzegorz Ciupka, arrived in Dhaka on Thursday to complete some advanced tasks for the company’s lab Dhaka.
Nine Bangladeshi engineers recruited by Dräxlmaier, undergoing an extensive training in the company’s plants and labs in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, are expected to return to Dhaka by the end of the year.
The design lab in Dhaka is expect to go into operation early next year, Bangladesh-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive director Daniel Seidl told New Age on Friday.
Dräxlmaier, he said, was looking for more Bangladeshi engineers and a CEO to coordinate its Dhaka operations.
At the large and sophisticated Dräxlmaier’s lab in Dhaka, he said, engineers would design automobile interiors, wiring and interior equipment using Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools.
The company’s product lines include interiors, cockpits, centre consoles, door panels, auto electric and functionally integrated systems (FIS).
By using natural materials such as leather, wood, and stone, the company makes functionally integrated interior components, cockpits, wiring harness and electrical management systems for new car models.
Globally acclaimed, Dräxlmaier designs for luxury brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz or Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen, Jaguar and Cadillac.
Dräxlmaier officials had a crucial meeting with Daniel and other representatives of German-Bangladesh Chamber as it has been providing it the support to establish its lab in Dhaka.
The Dräxlmaier Lab, would be a milestone for Bangladesh, facilitating its entry into multibillion-dollar global automotives market, said German-Bangladesh chamber president, Saiful Islam.
A highly regarded entrepreneur in shipbuilding and high value leather goods manufacturing, Saiful and Daniel worked for months to convince Dräxlmaier about what can be done in Bangladesh.
Daniel said that one year’s license fee for CAD software for 20 terminals for the lab alone cost $1 million.
With an annual turnover of two billion Euros, five–decade old Dräxlmaier employs more than 30,000 personnel in its 51 plants and labs in 20 countries.
