Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems celebrated today the grand opening of its new actuator manufacturing facility based in Acuna, Mexico.
The new facility marks the opening of the third manufacturing plant in the area. The Acuña III site, located near the Bendix Acuna I and Acuna II plants, manufactures actuator products, including spring brakes and service chambers.

The 67,000-sq-ft former brownfield was leased by Bendix in May 2010 and has been refurbished and upgraded to meet the company's rigorous manufacturing and quality standards for facilities, equipment, and production layout. Lean manufacturing experts have reviewed the entire production process using a Systematic Layout Planning model to ensure maximum efficiency.

"We're very pleased to announce that the state-of-the-art Acuna III facility began production in December and has added 112 jobs to the local economy," said John Cairo, Mexico country manager for Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems. "Expanding our existing Acuna operations through the latest manufacturing site addition has enabled Bendix to further leverage corporate shared services, while maintaining lean and cost-effective manufacturing processes to allow us to remain competitive in the markets we serve."

The facility is expected to produce at least one million actuators per year for Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake LLC, the joint venture of Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC and Dana Commercial Vehicle Products LLC.