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New technology bringing work from Mexico back to Autoliv

Autoliv may have recently held a party to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Tilbury plant, but the gift - which will bring new technology and return work previously sent to Mexico - is still to come.

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Autoliv may have recently held a party to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Tilbury plant, but the gift – which will bring new technology and return work previously sent to Mexico – is still to come.

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The manufacturer of inflatable curtain airbags that protect drivers and passengers from side-impact collisions is preparing for a brand new Phoenix laser cutter to be operational by next summer.

The new technology was announced during an anniversary celebration on Saturday.

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Vanessa Stahlbrand, human resources manager at Autoliv in Tilbury, said older model cutters were previously located at the plant before this work was shifted to Mexico years ago.

“It’s new technology, but the leadership has confidence in us and decided to award it to our facility,” she said. “We’re bringing it back.”

Stahlbrand noted the newer model will be able to cut three-million curtain airbags a year and will create new jobs.

She said Autoliv had a challenging year in 2018, “but we’ve been able to build a quality product and meet our targets.”

“We’ve got amazing employees that help Autoliv products save over 30,000 lives per year,” she said.

The Tilbury facility is on pace to produce 10.2-million airbags this year.

Stahlbrand said if the Tilbury plant continues to perform well, the potential exists for another three new high-tech cutters to be installed in the plant in the future.

She said the four laser cutters would match the plant’s weaving capacity to produce 12-million curtain airbags annually.

eshreve@postmedia.com

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