Using the occasion of celebrating their 20-year anniversary in Chatham-Kent, Tilbury’s Autoliv is bringing back its cutting division from Mexico, which will create an additional 20 jobs.
The news is significant, as it is almost unheard of for manufacturing jobs to migrate back to Canada from a low-cost labour country.
Autoliv will bring in four laser cutting machines that will be 10 times faster than the former laser machines they formerly had in the facility.
Ryan Stevens, the plant manager of the Tilbury Autoliv facility, said the addition of the laser cutting machines will help with the company’s success and future longevity in Tilbury.
“Other companies have come and gone, we’ve been able to stand the test of time,” Stevens says. “We’re seeing some of that now where manufacturers aren’t necessarily able to keep going because of what’s going on, we’re able to do that. Not only are we able to do that, we’re actually growing and we’re thriving.”
Autoliv celebrated their 20th anniversary in Tilbury with an open house on Saturday, allowing employees to show their families and some community members what they do.
Autoliv makes safety air bags for vehicles, specifically its patented one-piece woven (OPW) cushions, which protects people from side-impact accidents.
The Tilbury facility is the biggest manufacturer of OPW’s in the world, making 12 million air bags annually.
The Autoliv plant, which is located near the Chatham-Kent border on Highway 401, employs 330 people. The plant opened in September of 1999, and since its opening it has undergone three expansions and doubled in size.
