Hungarian automotive industry: week 24 2018 edition
Why accumulate large stocks of spare parts for high prices when on-demand printing is possible? This question was in the focus of our interview with György Falk, and we also sat down with the CEO of Siemens Hungary, a researcher of the Hungarian Academy and Sciences and the CEO of Fastron Hungaria with various talking points. Let´s recap the most important news items from Hungary´s auto sector from last week.
"In my view, we completed a highly successful investment last year. We build a 7,700sqm multi-storey hall, housing a 4,800sqm production floor and a 1,100sqm warehouse and including service facilities, a canteen and a doctor’s surgery.
"The investment was necessitated by future order volumes, as the old facility would have not allowed further expansion. Time proved the decision right, as by the end of 2016 the company had won four new automotive projects," Fastron Hungaria Kft. CEO Károly Mayer said last week.
"We are working on avoiding turning well established industrial systems upside down just to be able to visualise production data and processes in virtual reality," Zoltán Rácskay, researcher at the Institute for Computer Science and Control of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA SZTAKI), said last week during the introduction of the Hungarian-developed Apertus VR system.
In its plans connected to digitalisation, Siemens Zrt. has set as its target to make sure that at least 80 percent of all supplier processes – be it orders, confirmations and stock reports – can be processed electronically by 2020, Dale A. Martin, head of Siemens Hungary, said in an interview last week.
One of the greatest pains of the automotive industry is the multitude of spare parts collecting dust in storage facilities, stored for warranty reasons at millions of square metres of storage areas rented for high prices. Spare parts must be stored for years, even if there is no need for them eventually. An entire warehouse a total set of tools and spare parts is incredibly costly.
"Just imagine how much easier it would be to store a file and print the part when there is an actual need," György Falk, head of the board of directors and responsible for corporate strategy at Varinex Zrt. (pictured above), said in connection with the advantages of 3D printing.
Autopro is set to hold student engineer competition TechTogether for the fifth time: participants will compete for cash prizes at a total of HUF 1 million and other valuable prizes.
Tamás Laufer, chairman of ICT Association of Hungary, said it cannot be emphasised enough how digitalisation is bringing fast, radical, yet-to-be-seen changes in all industries and all walks of life. He added that it’s in all of our responsibility to ensure that these changes are carried out in the most beneficial ways possible.
Haulage company Transit-Speed is investing in a new conveyor and packaging system to increase the efficiency and speed of cargo handling. In addition, the company has purchased new loaders and trolleys.
According to the Hungarian Trade Union Federation (MSZASZSZ), the minister of finance has handed in a budget plan to decrease wages: the government is assuming a 8.8 wage increase on average for the 2019 budget, down from the 10.7 percent increase this year.
Until 2022, HUF 4,000 billion will be spent on road and rail services developments in order to strengthen the country’s position in logistics. Investments will affect 900 kilometres of public roads and the same amount of railways.
100 millionth product manufactured at Robert Bosch Power Tool Kft.: the jubilee product is a two-speed battery-powered hand drill and driver, a product with a production volume of more than 1 million on its own.
A PSA power unit won the International Engine of the Year award, and engine that is planned to enter mass production in Szentgotthárd from 2020.
