DRÄXLMAIER opens a design office in Sousse

12. February 2018 The automobile supplier with its head office in Germany is continuing to grow in Tunisia and is creating jobs for highly-qualified engineers.

The DRÄXLMAIER Group has been operating in Tunisia since 1974,  which marked the beginning of the company's international growth. Today, the DRÄXLMAIER Group employs over 6,000 people at the sites in El Jem, Siliana, Sousse and Zaouiet Sousse.

The DRÄXLMAIER Group has now made further investments in Tunisia by opening a design office at the site in Sousse. Highly-qualified electronic and mechatronic engineers are developing on-board wiring systems and electrical systems there. They are supporting the customer projects of the DRÄXLMAIER Group in Tunisia. The first six employees have already begun work and are currently undergoing extensive training. Plans are to significantly increase the number of employees this year and next. By the end of 2018, around 20 employees will be working in development in Sousse.

"The Development Center enables the DRÄXLMAIER Group to create more jobs for highly-qualified employees in Tunisia", said the CTO of the DRÄXLMAIER Group, Dr. Martin Gall. A third of the DRÄXLMAIER employees in Tunisia are qualified specialists and executives who work in functions like Development, Administration or Finance. Of that number, 1,000 are engineers and technicians. The company is currently looking for further skilled employees for the new design office.

 At the same time, DRÄXLMAIER is continually promoting the qualification and training of its employees in Tunisia. The company is currently training 30 young people for various technical jobs according to the German dual education standards. In cooperation with the  Sectoriel Center of Training in Electronics of Sousse, the company has been providing training in five different professions since 2013, for example in Mechatronics. Once they have completed their training, the graduates will be given a job with excellent career prospects. DRÄXLMAIER also maintains strategic partnerships with the most important engineering schools in Tunisia: ENIM, ENIT and ENISO. The automobile supplier also cooperates with local associations and trade unions. Thus, during Company Days in Tunisia, the Vice Chairman of the UGTT Trade Union Mohammed Ali Boughdiri praised DRÄXLMAIER as being a good investor. On his visit to DRÄXLMAIER, the former Chairman of the UGTT Trade Union Belgacem Ayari emphasized the high wage level and the good working conditions at the company.

Besides dual training, the automobile supplier focuses on training programs for its employees, like technical training courses, courses on soft skills and coaching. The DRÄXLMAIER Group is also very aware of its great social responsibility as an employer in Tunisia. Thus, as a local partner to the regions in which it operates, the company promotes cultural events, maintains partnerships with universities and engineering schools and regularly makes donations to children and needy families.

General information

About
DRÄXLMAIER Group

The DRÄXLMAIER Group supplies premium automobile manufacturers worldwide with complex wiring harness systems, central electrical and electronic components, exclusive interiors, and battery systems for electromobility. The combination of core competencies in the interior, electrical, electronic and battery systems areas makes DRÄXLMAIER unique in the industry. The company thereby covers the entire process chain, from the initial idea, through the development and production process, and up to precisely in-sequence delivery of the products to the assembly lines of premium automobile manufacturers. The inventor of the customer-specific wiring harness, the DRÄXLMAIER Group develops pioneering wiring harness technology as well as electrical and electronic components, all directly in-house. These include multi-voltage and high-voltage wiring harness systems, battery management systems and intelligent power distributors. DRÄXLMAIER is working on the future of emission-free mobility with its solution for low-voltage and high-voltage battery systems. As a market leader for interior systems in premium automobiles, the DRÄXLMAIER Group also supplies premium automobile manufacturers with ambient lighting, center consoles, door panels and instrument panels, as well as complete door and cockpit modules.  

The DRÄXLMAIER Group is an international automotive supplier with about 65 sites in over 20 countries. Founded in Germany in 1958, the company employs about 74,000 employees throughout the world. For the DRÄXLMAIER Group as an owner-managed business, responsible and long-range thinking has always been the basis for economic success. It is therefore a core element of its strategy to design its business and production processes, as well as its products, in a more sustainable manner and in that way to increase the competitiveness of the company on a long-term basis.

In 2022, the DRÄXLMAIER Group generated sales of 5.1 billion euro. Customers of this member of the Top 100 Automotive Suppliers include Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, Porsche and Volkswagen, as well as Californian automotive manufacturers.