One billion inductivities per year for the automotive industry

Well positioned, the Heidenheim site celebrates its 75th anniversary. Production has been significantly expanded to meet the growing demand, particularly from the automotive industry. Further investments are planned. As early as next year, the site's capacity is to increase to one billion inductivities per year.

Founded and built after World War 2 by employees who literally took their professional future into their own hands with shovels and wheelbarrows, the site looks back on an eventful history.

Global market share of more than 80 percent

Today, the site is primarily focused on the production of inductivities for the automotive industry. The capacity has been continuously expanded in recent years. The number of employees increased to currently 620. The product manufactured in Heidenheim in by far the highest quantities is miniaturized data line chokes, which ensure the exchange of data between electronic systems in vehicles. TDK holds a global market share of more than 80 percent with these components. One-third of them are manufactured in Heidenheim.

Due to the significant increase in production volume, the site built a new warehouse system two years ago, which enabled significant improvements in logistics, storage and shipping. With the AutoStore system, the capacity of the warehouse has almost tripled, and the number of goods movements has doubled. The warehouse is operated by robots that store and retrieve goods.

Thus, the site is well prepared for the increasing demands that electric mobility and autonomous driving in particular will bring. Especially for the power supply and interference suppression of driver assistance systems such as distance radar, blind spot warning or automatic high beam as well as for the signal transmission of cameras and sensors for autonomous driving, large quantities of inductors would be needed, and work is in progress to further develop them in order to process huge amounts of data.

Four times more components

Compared to cars with combustion engines, the demand for passive components for electric vehicles is around 4 times higher. In addition, autonomous driving is a growth driver. For this reason, a further double-digit million euro amount will be invested in additional production expansions at the Heidenheim site in the coming years. As early as next year, the plant is expected to have a capacity of almost one billion inductors per year.

Heidenheim site profile

Milestones