Wilhelm Baum, CEO of BOCAR Group and President of BOCAR US, Inc. speaks at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber. (Dec. 5, 2017)

GROUNDBREAKING CERMONY SPEECH – BOCAR USA PLANT
OPENING CEREMONY  – DEC 5, 2017
WILHELM BAUM, CEO BOCAR GROUP, PRESIDENT BOCAR US, INC.

WELCOME
Good afternoon,
It is my pleasure to welcome our guests of honour:

• Mrs. Kay Ivey Governor of State of Alabama
• Mr. Greg Canfield, Secretary of Commerce
• Mr. Tommy Battle, Mayor, City of Huntsville
• Mr. Mark Yarborough, Chairman, Limestone County Commission

Thanks for joining us today in your beautiful State of Alabama, also known as the Yellowhammer State, or the Cotton State. Today we share this moment in a place proudly selected by us, in “The Rocket City”, the city of Huntsville.

Ladies and Gentlemen
Welcome!
Thank you for taking the time to join us today for this momentous occasion. The ground-breaking ceremony marks the commencement of construction for our first manufacturing plant in USA.

PLANT OPENING

After a thorough analysis, BOCAR Group has decided to take another step towards international presence, by expanding within NAFTA region with a green field facility in Alabama.
When the construction of this facility is finished, it will be a 350,000 sq ft Surface with up to10 High Pressure Die Cast machines and will have the capacity to produce structural parts that will solve the needs of our local customers.
The automotive market is experiencing exciting times; reducing weight, downsizing, and electrification are changing our industry. Our customers are preparing to deliver their best products to the market and we are ready to support them. Structural aluminium components will play a major role in this equation and BOCAR Group has developed the know-how to produce these parts in the past years. We are also experiencing a big technology evolution, which emphasizes the need for aluminium body parts as an efficient solution for weight savings.
Therefore, we have decided to dedicate our new facility to produce these components and we feel confident that our experience and applied technology over these years will land us safely in this new venture.

CUSTOMER PROXIMITY

Today we are taking one more step to consolidate our international presence with more than 6,000 employees, 12 production plants and development offices in Germany, United States and Japan. BOCAR Group offers its customers a global network.
The way we are structured globally is designed to provide our customers with completely consistent processes and products with state-of-the-art technology which identifies Bocar.
We plan to continue expanding our global presence step by step, so that we will always be right where our customers need us as partners.

OUR PEOPLE

Our investment plan will reach approximately 115 million dollars, and will generate over 300 jobs. We the excellent local labour force we will make this a successful story.
The construction of this new automotive production plant is simply another way of showing that BOCAR Group trusts in the potential of future growth and development. It also strengthens our local-for-local strategy that BOCAR has used to create a worldwide industrial brand.
BOCAR’s commitment is to continue offering opportunities to attract the best talent to our team.
Automotive industry is characterized by constant change, disruptive times, fast pace and high innovation dynamics.
Our people are the foundation of our work and performance. Our success is driven by their high level of engagement.
Bocar Group will work closely with AIDT to attract and develop the best talent.
In our culture, safety of our personnel is our foundation.

OUR PRODUCTS AND OPERATION

We guarantee problem-free processes, and as a development partner we offer our customers an end-to-end concept from design to manufacturing.
Highest quality standards are the driver for completely fulfilling our customer’s needs.
We maximize our expertise by combining our extensive skills in aluminum and plastic components by using the latest technology in our production processes.

CLOSING

BOCAR Group is also very pleased that the government of Alabama continues to encourage the development of the Huntsville city and Limestone county. We thank you for all your support; without your help our success couldn´t be possible.

We are committed in looking for new collaboration opportunities, establishing strategies to always offer state-of-art technology and the highest quality in all our processes and products, maintain an outstanding position in the automotive industry, and support the growth and strengthen the economy of the State of Alabama.
We deeply thank you for your support and professionalism: authorities of Limestone County, City of Huntsville, and State of Alabama.
We recognize this collaboration to be key for our common success.
I salute you not before saying we are deeply proud that BOCAR products will soon be MADE IN ALABAMA.

Thank you.