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9 €800 million in revenue. Above all, this move creates new ties with strategic customers – Audi, Mercedes and Ford – and strengthens our relationships with Volkswagen and BMW. It also bolsters Plastic Omnium’s world leadership in exterior products, where it now accounts for 15% of the world market. In 2016, we divested a number of non-strategic activities, and more particularly the heavy-duty truck business, in order to concentrate on Plastic Omnium’s core businesses. In sales, 2016 was an exceptional year for the world auto industry and an even more exceptional year for Plastic Omnium, which serves 70 automakers in 31 countries and launches close to 200 new models ever y year. We owe this exceptional outperformance to our investments in new industrial capacity, to the across-the-board success of our innovation portfolio covering vehicle weight (CO2) and pollution (NOx) reduction and to our consistent operational excellence, from manufacturing to logistics and customer service. In industrial production, we commissioned four new factories in 2016 and have fi ve under construction around the world. Plastic Omnium’s plant and equipment have been optimized to capture growth. The Group is known for its industrial excellence; but as we never rest on our laurels, we are taking it to a new level by moving to the era of big data. The plant under construction in South Carolina will be to “industry 4.0” standard, to ensure better, higher-quality, more cost-effective production. It marks a revolution in the way automobiles are designed and produced and a major advantage for Plastic Omnium in the future. In another record for the year, we spent €402 million on industiral capacity in 2016, amounting to 7% of our revenue. In innovation, as we emphasized in our adver tising campaign, we aim for infinity. We recruited a Scientific Director to take charge of our innovation programs and boost our momentum. At the Paris Motor Show, Plastic Omnium presented a show-stopping prototype hydrogen storage system that supports long-distance electric propulsion. The Group is steadily gearing up for the coming upheaval in mobility and automotive propulsion. The PO-CELLTECH startup, based in Israel, will look for breakthrough fuel cell and supercapacitor solutions, and a third international research center focusing on new energy sources, Δ-Deltatech, will open in Brussels in 2019. It will reinforce our global leadership position in fuel systems, with 21% of the market. In human resource
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