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MiMfg Magazine
December 2017
Member
Spotlight
If you aren’t moving forward, you’re
falling behind. Michigan manufacturers
understand this and dedicate their
company resources toward continuous
improvements — improvements to
processes and technologies used, quality
standards, customer service and overall
brand reputation. When your business lives
or dies with every decision, nothing is
ever just okay. You can always do better,
you can always be better and, if reinventing
your brand keeps you competitive, it
could be well worth the risk.
“Adient is looking to the future,” says
Volker Krebs, vice president of Adient’s
Americas Seating division. “Our brand
may be new but we are providing our
customers with the same high level of
personal service they’ve come to expect
from us as the world’s largest automotive
seating supplier.”
The company now known as Adient
was a part of Johnson Controls before
spinning off in 2016. They have a new
feel and a new vision, but the superior
quality, technology and performance of
their products are as impressive as ever.
The footprint of Adient can be found
worldwide, producing 25 million seat systems
per year and employing more than 86,000
individuals across 250 global locations.
The company offers a comprehensive
portfolio of products for vehicle interiors
– complete seat systems, JIT assembly,
trim, foam, metals and specialty seating.
“Adient is committed to focusing on
the strategies, investments, products and
market segments that make the most sense
for our seating business and our customers,”
says Krebs. “As the development of
autonomous vehicles continues to grow
and people spend more time in non-
driving activities, the vehicle interior will
play an even more important role.”
For Krebs and his team, their focus isn’t
only on the needs of today’s customer, but
on what tomorrow’s customer might want.
“We have a very open, collaborative
culture and our teams embrace new ideas
and new trends — that creates countless
opportunities for our employees to be at
the forefront of innovation,” Krebs says,
explaining the purpose behind the
company’s recent acquisitions, investments
Adient donated $2.8 million to the Detroit Police Athletic League’s (PAL)
stadium at the site of historic Tiger Stadium and Volker Krebs (third from
left) and team paused for a photo with Detroit Tigers mascot Paws.
and partnerships throughout
Michigan. “Manufacturing is
changing and you have to keep
up if you are going to lead.”
Last year, Adient announced
plans to move its global headquarters
to Detroit, purchasing the
region’s historic 10-story,
164,000-square-foot Marquette
Building located across from
Cobo Center. Renovations to
the building have begun and will
bring more than 500 career
opportunities to the Motor City
in 2019. The move makes Adient
the first Fortune 500 company to
establish headquarters in Detroit
since 2003.
“I’ve always been passionate
about the automotive industry,”
says Krebs. “I think it’s only
fitting that we locate Adient’s
global headquarters in Michigan
because it is at the heart of the
automotive industry and it sets
us up well for the future.”
Additional developments
include a nearly 100,000-square-
foot expansion to the company’s
Plymouth Technical Center to serve
as a state-of-the-art engineering,
design and advanced technical
center workspace for more than
1,200 employees. Adient’s exciting,
future-focused environment makes
the company an employer of
choice for many of Michigan’s
young talent.
“We have a clear direction
and we’re communicating that
vision to our employees and to the
Southeast Michigan community,”
explains Krebs. “We’ve done a
lot in the last year to make the
Adient name mean something —
it’s an innovative brand on the
forefront of manufacturing’s
next great era and you’ll be
hearing a lot about us in the
years to come.”
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