Automotive interior components supplier International Automotive Components (IAC) opened a new regional and global engineering center in Pune, India on June 15, continuing the company’s global expansion. The opening increases IAC’s presence in India to six locations throughout the country and 28 design, technical, and commercial centers around the world.

Marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the 2415-m² (25,569-ft²) facility will focus on application development engineering to support the vehicle interior needs of domestic and global customer programs.

“The newest IAC facility in Pune will further enhance our global integrated engineering solutions focused on the development of exceptional automotive interiors,” IAC Senior Vice President of Asia Operations Gajanan Gandhe said in a news release statement.

With the ability to accommodate up to 150 employees, the dedicated engineering facility will provide design engineering and application development support to domestic vehicle manufacturing programs for OEMs, such as Mahindra and Tata, as well as to IAC locations worldwide.

The facility opening frees up approximately 650 m² (7000 ft²) of space at IAC’s existing Chaklan II, India facility, which the company says will be repurposed to expand its manufacturing operations providing additional production capacity and product offerings.

“IAC’s efforts in India align with our global strategy of providing customers with the regional program support needed, but also allows our North American, European and Asian engineering teams to work around the clock on customer projects,” said IAC Chief Operating Officer Terry Gohl during the facility’s ribbon-cutting event, according to a release.

In addition to the new facility in Pune, over the past 12 months IAC broke ground on a manufacturing plant in Poland in February 2017, began production at a new Czech Republic plant in July 2016, and entered the South American market with a new plant in Brazil in June 2016.