Hungarian automotive industry: week 48 2018 edition
Approximately every tenth future engineer disappears from higher education: there are students who go to study abroad and there are those who apply for a job. Let’s recap what last week brought in Hungary’s automotive sector.
Mercedes-Benz has inaugurated a wing renovated with a HUF 600 million investment at Lestár Péter Education Centre in Kecskemét. The investment allows all primary school students to study in the same building in a modern, highly equipped learning environment.
The Audi Hungaria Independent Trade Union (AHFSZ) released a statement protesting the government’s proposal that would allow for an increased overtime cap.
“It was two years ago when BME first noticed that every tenth to-be-first-year student would not show up on enrolment day in September. These young people would hand in their applications to a foreign university in the summer, and start their studies there. It was becoming suspicious when on registration day we would begin their enrolment. The mechanical engineering course had a “disappearance” rate of 10 percent two years ago, and around 7 percent this year, while in the electrical engineering course it’s as high as about 17 percent.
"It is also possible that a few students have been lured away by the industry. However, those who have enrolled at foreign universities are possibly the best of their generation,” Zsolt Farkas, assistant professor at the Department of Machine and Product Design (BME GT3) of the Budapest University of Budapest, told us.
The Volkswagen Group has announced its intentions to open a car manufacturing plant in Eastern Europe to relocate the production of Skoda and Seat cars to a new location. The automotive giant has four candidates: Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, with plans to launch production in 2022.
Győr-based Jankovits Engineering has inaugurated a 750sqm production hall. The unit houses a three-storey office facility, where their engineers will work on the design and production of purpose-built machinery.
South Korea-based Hanon Systems will create 500 jobs in Hungary. The A/C compressors produced at the supplier’s Pécs and Székesfehérvár sites are fitted into cars made by Volkswagen, Audi, Peugeot, Ford, BMW and other manufacturer giants, while the Rétság-based plant is engaged in the production of aluminium casts.
SBS Kft., a company engaged in the manufacturing and machining of heavy-duty equipment, railway structures, metal structures and purpose-built welded structures, has expanded with a new, 2,000sqm warehouse.
“Employees are depleted, underpaid and worn out, they are tired already when they get to work. There is a lot said about family-centredness these days, but mandatory overtime takes time away from families, employees don’t have enough free time and divorce rates are increasing,” Béla Balogh, president of Vasas Trade Union, told us. The trade union was the first one to reject the government’s proposal.
The first MÁV-bound KISS double-deck passenger car has been delivered.
Hungary’s largest charging station, capable of the simultaneous charging of seven electric vehicles, has been inaugurated in Sormás, Zala County, in the vicinity of the M7 motorway.
Hays Hungary’s engineer recruiting team has looked into why foreign investors might find Debrecen attracting when it comes to making decisions about new investments.
The Innovation Grand Prize is open to applications until February 13th.
Hungary-based automotive software developer NNG Kft. is working on a navigation software featuring online and offline elements. The company has launched a HUF 2 billion project, creating jobs for 60 researchers and developers.
“We have several high-value Doosan, Enshu, Mori Seiki and Muratec machines thanks to GE-CO. Recently we have purchased counter spindle, multi-turret, automated lathes from them. We have several machines that feature material container and feed systems. In terms of machining and machine complexity, we receive top-of-the-line machinery from GE-CO,” András Csoma, CEO of CNC Rapid Kft., told us.
Smanag offers structured and transparent solutions that comply with automotive quality assurance standards and meet customer-specific requirements. Ildikó Kovács, Jopp Interior Hungary Kft.’s head of quality assurance, told us why she is content with the system.
Székesfehérvár-based Arconic manufactures hundreds of thousands of aluminium wheels every year. The wheel discs are produced using a unique technology at the group’s Hungarian plant, which are delivered to the European, American, Asiaan and Australian continents. Production is supported by Fanuc robots.
The latest CNC machinery at Dana’s Győr plant has finally entered operation.
Students from Széchenyi István University of Győr are working on an autonomous racing car.
