Hungarian automotive industry: week 10 2017 edition
Last week brought a number of investments and development projects in Hungary´s automotive supplier and manufacturing industry. Let’s recap how the tenth week of the year shaped Hungary’s automotive sector.
Manufacturers
On March 7, Audi Hungaria announced that they had begun the serial production of CNG engines at their Győr plant.
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| Arnd-Robert Sponagel, board of directors member responsible for vehicle production, Peter Kössler, chairman of the board of directors, with the new Audi RS3 Sedan |
On March 10, the company celebrated the first Audi RS3 Sedan rolling off the Győr plant’s production line.
In just six months, Győr-based Melecs have purchased a second high-performance soldering machine. After buying a wave soldering machine last summer, the company has now procured a selective soldering machine, supplied by Wetheim.
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| Wetheim-supplied soldering machine at Melecs |
Kiskunfélegyháza-based Kunplast-Karsai Zrt. have announced to build a new production hall, housing new, robotised moulding equipment, and to upgrade their tool shop.
Karsai Holding have received a HUF 692m non-refundable aid. The document on government assistance was handed over by István Lepsényi, state secretary of the Ministry of National Economy for economy development and management, on March 9.
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Suppliers
Apollo’s new tyre manufacturing plant in Hungary will be handed over on April 7, Apollo vice-president Neeraj Kanwar announced on the Geneva Motor Show’s press day.
The Hungarian plant has 450 employees, their training is currently under way at the Apollo group’s Indian and Dutch manufacturing locations.
The testing of production equipment has already begun in Gyöngyöshalász with quality checks fine tuning. The first commercial tyres will roll off the production lines a few weeks after the inauguration in April.
Technology leader Continental are paying bonuses to their employees worldwide. After a successful fiscal 2016, the company have announced to pay employee bonuses worth €150m globally and €530 per employee in Hungary.
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Service providers
Trade fair Mach-Tech is held in every odd-numbered year, which means the expo is set to be held alongside Industry Days in 2017. Event director Csaba Vörös told autopro.hu about the details of the exhibition, which will open on May 9. One of the main themes of Mach-Tech is the fourth industrial revolution.
Industry 4.0 was also the main topic in our interview with Péter Erdős, senior engineer at Kvalix, manufacturers of purpose-built machinery.
Erdős says that Industry 4.0 is based around automation, the increase of automation in production. One of the reasons for this is skills shortage: there is a lack of employable labour force, so people have to be transferred from the production lines to positions where they can create more value, he added.
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TechTogether
Aventics Hungary’s Kft. will hold the 10th International Aventics Pneumobil Race on May 5 and 6. The competition in Eger will line up compressed-air driven vehicles designed and built by engineering students.
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