Poland

Tenneco today celebrated the grand opening of a state-of-the-art, 9.600-square-metre engineering center that will serve the company’s European Ride Control and Advanced Suspension Technologies (AST) businesses.

The new Monroe European Engineering Center is located approximately 2 kilometers from Tenneco’s manufacturing complex, in Gliwice, Poland.

Tenneco executives were joined by national and local government representatives, customers, members of leading European research institutes, and media professionals for the morning celebration, which included presentations, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the new facility.

“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.”

The Monroe European Engineering Center houses nearly 240 Tenneco Ride Control and AST product engineers whose work supports an array of leading 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 center are Monroe OE Solutions passive dampers and modules and Monroe Intelligent Suspension semi-active suspension dampers and modules. Together 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 center 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.

In conjunction with the building project, Tenneco 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.