DAVCO announced Wednesday it is investing $3.5 million in its Saline, Mich., campus to create an Advanced Electronics Manufacturing Center, extending its manufacturing capabilities into advanced electronics technologies as the company prepares to capitalize on the arrival of electric-powered commercial vehicles.
DAVCO says the state-of-the-art facility sits adjacent to the existing DAVCO manufacturing facility and is expected to be fully operational in early 2022. Company officials expect this new facility will create 20 new positions.
“Over the past 45 years, DAVCO has proudly served customers with industry-leading products and unparalleled customer support and that will not change,” says Laurie Beegle, president, DAVCO. “This new electronics manufacturing facility ensures we will continue to be able to serve commercial fleet customers as their needs evolve once they begin putting electric vehicles into service.”
The new DAVCO Advanced Electronics Manufacturing Center is housed in DAVCO’s corporate office campus in Saline, where work has been underway to transform the space since Fall of 2021. DAVCO fuel filtration products will continue to be manufactured in an adjacent building on the DAVCO campus in Saline and are not impacted by this announcement, the company says.
Operations at the Advanced Electronics Manufacturing Facility have already started and DAVCO expects the facility to be fully operational this winter.
Initially, the company says the facility will be responsible for manufacturing electronics hardware for Road Ready advanced telematics, a company within the Clarience Technologies family. Road Ready offers advanced telematics solutions for commercial transportation and has experienced significant growth this past year. By consolidating manufacturing at the new Michigan facility, Road Ready telematics hardware will be assembled efficiently by an experienced team that’s dedicated to the Road Ready business.
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Manufacturing includes all Road Ready hardware, mobile communications units, smart bridge integrators, Road Ready proprietary sensors and other related items. As connected vehicle technologies become the digital backbone supporting electric and autonomous vehicles over time, Road Ready expects demand for their solutions to continue reach new heights.
With many electric vehicles in development today, DAVCO says OEMs are actively working closely with their supply base to finalize product designs. Once demand accelerates, manufacturers will lean on their supply bases to deliver what’s needed to scale production. Vehicles built on new technology will result in many new components — likely from suppliers who have not previously served the commercial transportation industry. DAVCO states it sees this as an opportunity to leverage its industry experience, which will be invaluable to OEMs.
“The dramatic fluctuations in vehicle demand experienced in the North American commercial vehicle market — unlike anything seen in any other industry — will only be amplified with electric vehicles. We believe customers will take solace in the fact that we understand what’s required as these fluctuations occur,” says Beegle.
