MAN Truck & Bus operates new assembly line for axle production at its Salzgitter plant

MAN Truck & Bus operates new assembly line for axle production at its Salzgitter plant

30 years of axle production at the Salzgitter plant | 200 new jobs and investments of €30 million | Production of MAN and Scania axles on a single assembly line

MUNICH, 29-Mar-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — MAN Truck & Bus has put its new assembly line for axle production at its Salzgitter plant into operation. From 2018 onward, it will see non-driven MAN and Scania axles roll off the line next to each other. This is a joint large-scale MAN and Scania project in the field of production.

Plant manager Thomas Rennemann is delighted: “The new direction that the MAN Salzgitter site is taking within the context of our PACE2017 program for the future is continuing to take shape through this. We have invested €30 million in a new, state-of-the-art assembly line. Around 200 new jobs are set to be created in connection with this, which is good news for Salzgitter and the region. Our plant plays a key role in Volkswagen’s commercial vehicle holding group Volkswagen Truck & Bus.

Chairman of the Works Council Hilmar Pawel adds: “We are pleased that we finally have a unique selling point within the Group and we will do everything to keep axle production future-proof.”

Workforce and Management joined in celebrations to mark the ramp-up of the new axle assembly line and 30 years of axle assembly in Salzgitter.

30 years of axle assembly in Salzgitter – Milestones

Summer 1986: Assembly of the first axle in Salzgitter

• The new assembly line in Salzgitter was primarily taken over 1:1 from Braunschweig for cost reasons
• Production of around 100 front axles in the early shift alone on the front axle line
• First paint robot in axle assembly
• Type label printer the first “computer”
• Production of the LT-40 axles (front and rear axles) for Volkswagen (extended workbench) right up to the 1990s
• Approximately 90 workers employed in axle production
• Exclusive assembly of drum brakes (brake pads with asbestos, loud impact wrenches, solvent-based paint

Around the turn of the century:

• Setup of A1 and A2 lines
• Up to three shifts
• Production of MAN hydrodrive axles since 2006
• Over 100,000 axles for the first time in 2006

2008 through 2009

• Restructuring of axle assembly | Dismantling of the old A3 line and setup of the current A0 and A3 lines
• Material made available pre-commissioned on the line thanks to a driverless transportation system
• o Annual capacity of 141,000 axles in two shifts

2012 and 2013

• Awarded the “MNPS-Award Achse” for the flow of materials
• Axle the beacon area for “end-to-end business health management”

Still to come

• The A5 line, which will make the cooperation with Scania visible
• Around 200 new jobs are set to be created in order to provide the Volkswagen Truck & Bus Group with non-driven axles
• Investments in the region of €30 million
• 940 axles to be assembled per day in two shifts in the future
• New technologies in the field of painting to be used for the first time at MAN (CO2 washer, dry filter for paint residues)
• 16 robots to ensure correct corrosion protection in the future
• 76 driverless transportation vehicles are to be used for assembly and logistics tasks

SOURCE: MAN SE

MEDIA CONTACT

Manuel Hiermeyer
MAN Truck & Bus
Corporate Communications
Phone:  +49 89 1580-2001
E-mail:  presse-man@man.eu