INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Mercedes-Benz Cars invests in its future with Polish engine factory
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Mercedes-Benz Cars has nearly completed construction work on its high-tech engine plant in Jawor, Poland – the basic structure of the new engine factory is in place. With this plant, the company is increasing capacities within the global production network of Mercedes-Benz Cars. The CO 2
-neutral factory will employ more than 1,000 people, 500 more than initially announced last year.
The official topping-out ceremony was attended by Jadwiga Emilewicz, Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain, Frank Deiß, Head of Production Powertrain Mercedes-Benz Cars, Rainer Ruess, Head of Production Planning Mercedes-Benz Cars and Dr Andreas Schenkel, CEO Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Poland, as well as other guests from business and politics.
The company has decided to create 500 additional jobs at the site to cope with high demand for its high-tech four-cylinder engines.“ In our CO 2
-neutral plant in Jawor, we will build highly efficient engines for our hybrid vehicles and conventionally powered passenger cars. The construction of this plant is an investment in the future and an important milestone on our way to the mobility of the future. This is a strong sign of our commitment to the location and to German-Polish friendship,” said Markus Schäfer, Member of the Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain. Therefore, the Jawor factory will employ over 1,000 people when starting production by the end of 2019.
The factory will produce four-cylinder diesel and petrol engines for hybrid, as well as conventional vehicles and will supply plants of Mercedes-Benz Cars around the globe. The different engine variants will be produced alongside the corresponding crankcases on highly flexible lines enabling quick reactions to market demand. The engines produced in Jawor will combine modern engine technology and partial electrification using 48-volt technology. Daimler relies on the coexistence of different drive technologies with an intelligent modular system consisting of highly efficient high-tech combustion engines in combination with 48-volt on-board electrical systems, as well as consistent hybridisation and purely electric drives with batteries or fuel cells. These are optimally tailored to the respective customer needs and vehicle types.
“ As a so called‘ greenfield’ project, the new engine plant in Jawor offers an excellent opportunity to establish an integrated production concept on a newly built site. Jawor will be our benchmark regarding green high-tech production. It is of course a challenge to transfer the same measures into existing, historically grown factories in our powertrain production network, but it is our aim to implement as many as possible, using Jawor to test feasibility,” stated Frank Deiß. •
Artist’ s impression of a high-tech factory for four-cylinder engines from Mercedes-Benz Cars, in Poland
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