Hungarian automotive industry: week 5 2017 edition

Manufacturers

Mercedes-Benz announced in June 2016 to build a second manufacturing unit in Kecskemét for the production of front- and rear-wheel drive passenger cars.

Preparations for the €1 billion project have already begun. Construction works are expected to start in 2018, while production is set to launch by the end of the decade.

Audi Hungaria Zrt.’s offer from the middle of last week proposed a HUF 30,000 (€96) increase to the workers’ monthly base wage and a slight boost to fringe benefits.

On Friday, the trade union rejected the management’s offer, although AHFSZ made a new proposal: a HUF 40,000 (€129) wage rise instead of the previous bid demanding an increase of HUF 45,000 (€145). Wage talks between the management and trade union are set to continue.

Suppliers

Alongside Industry 4.0, Borsodi Műhely Fémmegmunkáló Kft. is already gearing up for Industry 5.0 with strategic planning. Last week we interviewed the company’s managing directors.

Knorr-Bremse launches a vehicle and electrical engineering dual training programme. In a new dual master training programme by Knorr-Bremse, students will become acquainted with the operation of critical-safety vehicle dynamics controllers, such as brake controllers and adaptive driver assistance (ADAS) systems and development systems at Knorr-Bremse Fékrendszerek Kft.’s Budapest Research and Development Centre.

Bridgestone Tatabánya Termelő Kft. has developed a new wage system to allow for the expansion of workforce required by a fourfold production capacity increase planned for 2020. Wages of certain employees could increase by 40 percent in the next three years.

Service providers

The design phase of the new autonomous vehicle test track in Zalaegerszeg has commenced. The government had provided a HUF 6 billion (€19.3 million) aid to kick off the project. The financing will allow for the implementation of the first phase: technical planning and construction of the testing environment.

Last week saw the Hungarian Scientific Society of Mechanical Engineers’s conference on the automotive industry and additive technologies, 3D printing and related subjects. The conference’s theme built around topics such as competitiveness, export-oriented industry, value creation, value design, marketing, customer-oriented development, technology and material science, electronics and automation.

Employees of the Hungarian railway company (MÁV) are expected to receive a 30 percent pay rise within the next three years, if an agreement between management and trade unions receives approval by the government.

According to the CEO of Hödlmayr, it is not yet possible to gauge the extra administrative costs of a new regulation introduced on January 1 in Austria affecting international hauliers, namely that drivers must be paid the local minimum wage.

IBM Hungary has appointed a new regional director: in his new position, Péter Rehus is in charge of the company’s Hungarian customer relations and responsible for the company’s entire products and services portfolio.

Péter Rehus, IBM Hungary

Automotive SMEs can also apply for a new government-supported project with a HUF 54 billion allocation. The project, aiming the digitisation of SMEs, will open for applications on March 8. The support is eligible for a wide range of activities, including corporate management, finances, HR, logistics, as well as the financing of engineering and design software.

Education

So far it is unclear what kind of professionals will be needed in the future. The industrial revolution will create subjects that are not yet in existence and the necessity of which we haven’t even realised. According to the secretary-general of the ICT Association of Hungary, it’s time we put our minds in order.