VC Visteon Corporation

Visteon Village Design Fosters Collaboration and Innovative Thinking VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich., Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- With the opening of Visteon Village, Visteon Corporation (NYSE:VC) has developed a unique environment designed to naturally facilitate open communication, collaboration and innovation for its employees, customers and supplier partners. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040806/DEF015-a http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040806/DEF015-b http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040806/DEF015-c http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001201/DEF008LOGO ) "When we set out to design Visteon Village, one of the keys for us was to create a 'smart' facility, both in terms of cost efficiency and in the way that we work," says Stacy Fox, Visteon senior vice president, corporate transactions and legal affairs. "Visteon Village embodies the culture we're striving to foster -- one of openness, innovation and collaboration -- that inspires our employees to develop great products for our customers." The Village is comprised of nine buildings totaling 800,000-square-feet and is set on a scenic 265-acre site. The building exteriors feature pitched roofs with chimneys and dormers and are a rich mixture of stone, brick and glass, most of which was produced at Visteon's own glass facilities in Nashville, Tenn., and Tulsa, Okla. To promote a close-knit working environment among the Village's 3,200 employees, buildings are close together, no higher than four stories and no wider than 60 feet. High ceilings and large windows create an urban loft-like feel. The workspaces at Visteon Village were designed to meet the needs of a diverse workforce and encourage a new way of working. There are less than 20 closed-wall offices on the site, and the open environment includes workspaces that are much less enclosed than typical cubicles, with shorter walls and wide, open entrances. There are also many alternative workspaces, including quiet rooms, conference rooms, soft-seating areas and collaborative spaces, which provide employees with options that meet a variety of work needs. Many of these spaces are situated in front of windows to take advantage of natural light and foster creative thinking. The heart of Visteon Village is its Main Street, which was designed as a pedestrian walk way. Sidewalks, trees and benches line Main Street, along with a convenience store, a beauty salon/barber shop, a restaurant and a bank. Main Street also links the Village's six dedicated customer innovation centers with its three product innovation centers. An important design element of the customer service centers is a series of secured-access entrances to allow the confidential development of proprietary technologies and components. From a product development standpoint, workflow was a key to the design of the Village, creating adjacencies among product development teams as well as cross-functional teams. For example, advance product engineers are located together, creating a natural information flow throughout the product lines. Laboratories were designed so testing can be seen from component to system to final product. "We were excited by the challenge of creating the Village," says David King, architect/engineer for Visteon Village and chairman of Smithgroup, a Michigan-based architectural engineering and planning firm. "The design combines the community feel of a Michigan small town with the functionality of a global, world-class organization." The Village's central building is One Village Center, which overlooks a 37-acre lake. Village Center is where the visitor entrance is located. This building also houses the cafeteria, which features indoor and outdoor seating and can seat up to 800 people for large employee events such as "town hall" meetings. The Village Center also features space for large presentations or vehicle and product displays, as well as a state-of-the-art employee training center. Other amenities in the Village include boardwalks and a nature trail for use by both employees and the community. Located approximately 25 miles west of Detroit, Visteon Village is two miles north of the I-275 and I-94 interchange, bounded by I-275 on the west, Ecorse Road on the north and Tyler Road on the south. Visteon Corporation is a leading full-service supplier that delivers consumer-driven technology solutions to automotive manufacturers worldwide and through multiple channels within the global automotive aftermarket. Visteon has approximately 72,000 employees and a global delivery system of more than 200 technical, manufacturing, sales and service facilities located in 25 countries. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040806/DEF015-a http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040806/DEF015-b http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001201/DEF008LOGO DATASOURCE: Visteon Corporation CONTACT: Kim Welch, +1-313-755-3537, , or Melinda Czarnecki, +1-313-755-5448, , both of Visteon Corporation Web site: http://www.visteon.com/

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