Hungarian automotive industry: week 30

Manufacturers

Daimler announced last week to build a second Mercedes plant in Kecskemét, conforming to Industry 4.0 production norms, where the OEM will build front and rear-wheel drive cars, and it will also be ready for the production of alternative drive vehicles.

Markus Schäfer, Mercedes-Benz board of directors member responsible for production and supplier chain

Győr-based Audi Hungaria announced last week to switch back to two-shift schedule temporarily until the start of mass production for the Q3.

Audi Hungaria also reported on its production results from the first half of 2016: over one million engines and 64,000 cars have been produced thus far at the Győr-based plant in 2016.

Audi Hungaria posts production results from H1 2016

Chinese bus manufacturer BYD announced last week to establish its first European manufacturing site in Komárom, where they will build electric drive buses. Staff recruitment is set to begin in September, while production is planned to start in late-2016.

Chinese BYD establishes European manufacturing base in Komárom, Hungary

Service providers

Schneider Electric’s Zalaegerszeg plant handed over a new 1,600 sq m warehouse, doubling its existing storage capacity at their Hungarian location. Since 2005, the company, engaged in the production of electric distributors for industrial applications, has increased their headcount from 40 to 170 people.

First starting production 25 years ago, the Zalaegerszeg-based plant is planning to further increase the number of its staffers by 50 in the next year.

Schneider Electric opens new warehouse in Zalaegerszeg

Trend

A few years ago, only a few believed in so-called collaborating robots, which work directly with human workers without a safety guardrail. Now however, these robots are currently transforming the entire industry as new positions that take advantage of this way of work are becoming a necessity.

Universal Robots sell more collaborating robots than their competitors combined. Last week, we interviewed Slavoj Musilek, the company’s CEE director, about this industrial transformation.

Slavoj Musilek of Universal Robots

Education

University applications in Hungary saw a 5 percent increase this year, while acceptance rates increased by 2,000 students in total. Of all state-financed courses, technical and IT courses enjoy the highest popularity. This year, 1,600 applications were accepted for mechanical engineering courses.

803 engineer students will enrol at Széchenyi István University of Győr alone. Of these 803 students, 206 will study mechanical engineering, 48 of them in master’s courses.

The university’s vehicle engineering course will receive 250 BSc students and 49 MSc students. 57 students will enrol in the mechatronic engineering course, 12 of them on MSc level. Additionally, the university will enrol 164 BSc and 17 MSc students for its logistics engineering courses.

TechTogether

The Hungarian Formula Student race will be held for the first time under the Formula Student East name. In addition to Hungarian teams, participants have registered from Germany, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Greece, Pakistan, the Czech Republic and Israel to compete in the region’s most popular competition for university students.

The teams have to design single-seater formula cars for the race. This year, four Hungarian teams took part in the event, three as competitors and one as an exhibitor.

Formula Student East kicks off at Győr-Gönyű Harbour

The Silverstone Formula Student race is said to be the most prestigious leg of the event series. This year, BME FRT from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics took part as the only team from Hungary.

Although this alone is not such an outstanding feat, BME FRT managed to finish in 8th place in a vast field of 107 teams.