Behr Expands With New High-Tech Climatic Wind Tunnel
TROY, Mich., May 19, 2004 -- Behr America completed the latest phase of its North American expansion with grand opening ceremonies for a new $15-million climatic wind tunnel here today.
Designed to test a wide variety of automotive heating and cooling equipment, the wind tunnel is part of Behr's 90,000-square-foot North American world headquarters complex in Troy, Michigan. The headquarters campus also includes administrative offices and a technical center for product research, development and testing.
Grand opening ceremonies included remarks by Troy Mayor Louise Schilling; Ken Rogers, director of Automation Alley; Dr. Markus Flik, CEO and chairman of the board of the Behr Group, and Hans-Joachim Lange, president of Behr America and member of the board of the Behr Group.
"The new wind tunnel sets a benchmark for wind tunnel technology around the world," Flik said. "This represents a significant step in our plans to provide expanded technical support to our growing North American customer base."
Completion of the project took less than two years. Landry Newmann Architecture of Birmingham, Michigan, designed the building and Rudolph/Libbe, with offices in Canton, Michigan, and Woodbridge, Ohio, was the general contractor. Jacobs Sverdrup of Tullahoma, Tennessee, coordinated the design and installation of the wind tunnel's testing equipment and technical facilities.
The new wind tunnel can produce wind speeds up to 125 mph and will be able to test vehicle air-conditioning and cooling systems under all climate conditions ranging from -22 degrees F (-30C) to 122 degrees F (50C) and from five percent to 95 percent relative humidity.
The facility's "day profile" solarium can simulate full-spectrum sunlight as it passes across the sky during the course of a day. The solarium's electrically controlled filters also can simulate a cloudy day or a vehicle passing through a tunnel.
The Troy wind tunnel is similar to the climatic wind tunnel at Behr's research-and-development center in Stuttgart, Germany. The Troy facility combines many of the Stuttgart center's capabilities under one roof. The company's parent Behr GmbH & Co. KG, Europe's leading supplier of automotive climate-control and engine-cooling systems, introduced its first blower tunnel in Germany in 1937 to test the famed Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrow racecar.
With headquarters in Troy, Michigan, Behr America is a leading supplier of engine cooling and air-conditioning systems to the automobile industry. The company has 2,700 employees at facilities in Troy and Webberville, Michigan; Dayton, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina, and Fort Worth, Texas.
Behr America's parent company, Behr GmbH & Co. KG, based in Germany, has been supplying automobile makers for nearly 100 years. Group sales in the 2003 business year came to approximately $3.5 billion. Currently Behr employs over 16,000 people in 30 development and production facilities in Europe, North and South America, South Africa and India.
Additional information is at www.behrgroup.com .
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