Adient Mezőlak Ltd. (formerly Johnson Controls) held a closing ceremony for its grant project. During the implementation of this consortium-based R&D project, three automotive product families were developed. Julius-Globe Ltd. was Adient’s consortium partner, and our main task was the design and experimental manufacturing of selected components within the prototype product families.

The Adient group — a manufacturer of car seats — has been present in Hungary since 2007, producing innovative vehicle seat structures for major automakers such as BMW, Daimler, Chrysler, Tesla, Ford, Jeep, Seat, and Volkswagen. More than 2,700 specialists work across the company’s three Hungarian sites in Mór, Mezőlak, and Kecskemét. The Mezőlak plant, which opened in 2011, manufactures seat backrest adjusters, seat height adjusters, locking mechanisms, and seat fastening systems. Today, one in every ten cars worldwide contains seat mechanisms produced at the Mezőlak facility, which employs 580 people.

Alongside mass production, R&D activities also take place in Mezőlak, in close collaboration with specialists at Adient’s European headquarters in Germany. This work made it possible to develop a world-first range of zero-backlash seat backrest adjuster product families — covering backrest adjustment, seat height adjustment, and locking mechanisms. The project’s goal was to design, finalise, and bring into production the new product family series and development prototypes, as well as to design and manufacture the associated production line and tooling.

The outcome of this development was the world’s first completely zero-backlash seat backrest adjuster product family, specifically designed to meet the requirements of 3-door vehicle types. The updated model of the seat height adjuster product family also incorporates numerous innovations, making it functionally superior to the previous series while also representing a manufacturing advancement. The newly developed locking mechanism series — used to secure backrests and seats — offers a competitive market advantage thanks to its uniquely low weight and compact size.

The development — worth approximately HUF 2.85 billion in total — was made possible with HUF 996 million in funding from the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme (GINOP) under the Széchenyi 2020 programme.