Wabco officially opened its new Americas headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The new facility includes office space on two floors, as well as Wabco's Customer Experience Center, a vehicle test lab, training center and other amenities.
The building, located approximately 30 miles north of Detroit, brings Wabco's engineering, quality, sales, marketing and corporate functions together in one location. Approximately 200 employees work in the building, and the company plans to add an additional 90 jobs at the site over the next three years.
The new facility is especially important considering the increased use of automated technologies in commercial vehicles. Jon Morrison, president, Americas at WABCO, noted the technology-enabled facility represents a significant investment and demonstrates Wabco's increased commitment to mobilizing vehicle intelligence in the Americas region by advancing innovations that support the development of autonomous, connected and electric (ACE) commercial vehicles.
“Our DNA is in vehicle control and brake systems, and last year we acquired the RH Sheppard company ... so now we have both lateral and longitudinal,” Morrison said. “These are all things that give us those building blocks to participate and to help drive more automated functionality in the vehicle. Our new headquarters gives us a space that is more conducive and reflective of where that kind of thought process, skill set and technology is going, as well as having everything in one place to enable us to very efficiently do our development, application work and customer interface.”
Certain areas of the building are designed to serve a specific purpose.
- The Customer Experience Center is set up encourage collaborative discussion with customers, typically OEMs. Wabco found this area necessary because some of the technologies that the company works with are complex and deeply integrated with the customer, Morrison said.
- The training center is another area of the building with a customer-focused design. The center is designed to facilitate training of OEMs, fleets and even dealers.
“We can actually pull a truck into the middle of the office by the training center, and use augmented reality to look at how our parts fit on the vehicle,” Morrison said. “We can do exploded views and really interface in a more interactive way, rather than just looking at hard parts.” - The vehicle test lab is set up for developmental testing of systems such as steering, as well as application development. The company partners with sensor suppliers like Mobileye and Valeo, and Morrison says Wabco develops the software and hardware interfaces to enable those technologies to work cohesively on North American trucks, making the vehicle test lab an important addition to the new facility.
The location of the commercial vehicle systems manufacturer’s headquarters is interesting, considering that metro Detroit is home to the “big three” American passenger vehicle manufacturers.
“I think what we’ll be revealing is, we’re a global leader in commercial vehicle and vehicle control systems, right here in the middle of the passenger car world,” Morrison said. “This is an opportunity for us to really get that message out, and I think it will surprise some people.”
The goal for the new headquarters was to have everybody in one space, and to create a space that drives and facilitates innovation as well as customer intimacy and customer interaction, Morrison said. “We set out with that goal, and I think we achieved that goal.”
